BRUCEDALE – Guelph-Eramosa Township is holding three spots for expert witnesses at the upcoming Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) hearing for the proposed Rockwood quarry.
At the Dec. 17 council meeting Concerned Residents Coalition (CRC) president Doug Tripp asked council for an update on the peer review progress of two new reports the group submitted in August.
The reports address hydrogeological and blasting concerns surrounding the proposed James Dick Construction quarry and council committed to peer reviewing both reports at the Aug. 13 meeting.
The quarry application process began in December of 2012 when JDCL applied to rezone a 24.8-hectare (61.3 acre) property at the northern corner of Highway 7 and 6th Line from agriculture and hazard land to extractive industrial.
In October 2016 the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing was put on hold when OMB vice chair Steve Stefanko realized the zoning bylaw amendment was filed for a bylaw that no longer existed.
In the summer of 2016 Guelph-Eramosa repealed and replaced its entire comprehensive zoning bylaw, making the 2012 JDCL quarry rezoning application inaccurate.
After the OMB decision, JDCL immediately filed another amendment application for both a Guelph-Eramosa zoning bylaw amendment and a Wellington County Official Plan amendment.
When no decision was made within the designated timeframe by the township or the county, JDCL once again appealed the non-decision.
The matter is scheduled to appear at the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT), formerly the OMB, from May 21 to July 15.
Guelph-Eramosa was not a party at the first hearing though it did send its lawyer to file council’s resolution stating the municipality’s objection to the quarry and asking the OMB to reject JDCL’s rezoning application and Aggregate Resources Act licence application.
As of the Dec. 17 meeting, Guelph-Eramosa council still had yet to state its position for the new LPAT hearing. However, the municipality is holding three spots for potential expert witnesses depending on the peer review reports.
Mayor Chris White explained the township is in the process of peer reviewing the two CRC reports, one to do with blasting, the other with water.
The work for the water peer review is taking place now, White said, and the township is seeking more clarity on certain aspects. However, the work for the blasting report is stalled while the peer reviewers try to set up a date to discuss the report with its author, Bill Hill.
In anticipation of the peer review outcomes, the township has held three spots for its own experts at the LPAT hearing.
Two spots are for the blasting report (one expert on noise and another on setbacks and the planning act). The third spot is being held for an expert on water.
“When … we finally have those conversations, we need to get those done as quickly as possible and council will see what comes back out of that and we will take our position somewhat depending on what those particular reviews have said,” White said.
“As we’ve said before if we come back and Well 4 is under threat, we will defend Well 4 and take that on.”
The township has until March to make a decision.
“The council needs to state its position I believe 90 days before the hearing begins, much like we did last time,” White said. “We want to have a resolution to say ‘here’s the township’s position on the quarry.’
“So we’ve got to get those peer reviews finished. That may direct to some degree what we do with our position to move forward.”
Tripp clarified that experts are required to be identified by Jan. 11.
“The procedural order as it stands at the moment is that we are still obliged to identify who those expert witnesses will be by January the 11th and further that meetings of the experts on the various issues need to take place beginning no later than February the first,” Tripp said.
“In fact there’s correspondence today that we received indicating that the expert witness meetings on hydrogeology – they’re trying to set that up to begin January 31st.”
He continued, “if the township were going to present evidence related to hydrogeology as you’ve suggested, if there are issues related to the well … those expert meetings are going to take place starting at the end of January and so there’s just a sense that all the parties need to be prepared to participate at that time.”
White assured Tripp the township is not behind on its peer reviews and that the township would let the CRC know when more information is available.
