Neighbours in Ontario’s Brock Township fight aggregate pit expansion – Durham | Globalnews.ca

A proposal to expand an aggregate extraction pit in a rural part of Ontario’s Brock Township is facing opposition from neighbours who say it could negatively impact nearby sensitive wetlands and wells used for drinking water.

“Even in the winter, it’s gorgeous. The snow on it — the rolling hills,” said Kaik Barucha, speaking with his partner, Jan Mears, as they looked out at the farmer’s field across from their home in the countryside of Sunderland, Ont.

“The reason we all live here is for some peace and quiet,” he told Global News.

“That’s why we moved to this area.”

The future of that land, however, is uncertain.

The company Canada Building Materials (CBM) wants to use the site to expand the aggregate extraction operations from a now-dormant site down the road.

That would require changing the current municipal zoning from “RU” (rural) to “M4” to allow aggregate extraction, not far from environmentally-protected areas.

“This whole area here is a watershed for the Beaver River,” which flows into Lake Simcoe, Mears explained. “So we are responsible for looking after that land, the wetlands particularly.”

The couple and their neighbour, Peter Renz, said they and others in the area are also worried about the impact to wells used for drinking water.

CBM, a subsidiary of Brazilian cement giant Votorantim Cimentos, applied under the Ontario Aggregate Resources Act to dig a pit below the water table.

“Suddenly coming and digging a 30, 40, 50-foot hole there and saying, ‘Oh, everything’s going to be OK’ — it’s nonsense, total nonsense,” Barucha exclaimed.

“Sometimes you got to go with common sense and it doesn’t make sense to dig a 100-foot hole below the water line and expect that nothing’s going to happen,” Renz added.

2:34
Residents and environmental groups angry as province continues to push through wetlands development

Cria Pettingill, the local Brock Township councillor, said she is sympathetic to local resident concerns, especially as they relate to the nearby wetlands — which have been deemed provincially significant.

“There aren’t many of them in Ontario,” she said. “They are threatened by climate change and it’s just hugely important that we do the right thing in terms of sequestering carbon and not destroying the biodiversity we have. Everything is connected — and the neighbours here, they know that.”

The Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority told Global News it has no role in the approval process but has advised the province that extraction should happen no closer than 30 metres from the wetlands, and that a catchment-based water balance should be in place to ensure the wetlands continue to function.

“If the advice in our comments is followed, the neighbouring wetland will be protected,” wrote spokesperson Sue Jagminas in an email response.

David Hanratty, the director of land and resources for North American aggregates at Votorantim Cimentos, said in an email that extraction would only take place on farm fields, not the wetland features, despite the proposed license encompassing the entire property.

“The application is designed to protect those wetland features, in terms of both boundaries and potential impacts from excavations in other areas, as does the Provincial Policy in Ontario, which prohibits the extraction of provincially significant wetlands (or PSWs), of which this is one,” he wrote.

Hanratty also noted the company would continue to host public information sessions on the subject.

Barucha and Mears have already circulated a petition opposing the project and the proposed zoning change. Among the residents in the sparsely-populated area, 62 signed, according to Barucha.

“It’s impossible to think about, actually,” said Mears of the possibility of development. “It would be unlivable, actually, we feel. It would be absolutely destroying our way of life.”