Guelph Mercury, Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Neighbours wary of pit expansion

By Vik Kirsch

Mercury Staff

ELORA

[Photograph with caption: Ric Holt is Neighbourhood Liaison Committee member for the Murray Group Bowman pit complex on Middlebrook Road near Elora. The gravel pit will be in view from the back of his property, behind the barn.]

Neighbours of Middlebrook Road gravel pits in Centre Wellington hope noise and truck traffic concerns will be addressed amicably when the owner expands operations.

That would eliminate the cost of appealing to the Ontario Municipal Board.

"Our intention is to try to negotiate a settlement," said Ric Holt, a Middlebrook area neighbour and member of the Neighbourhood Liaison Committee, which comprises residents and management at pit owner Murray Group of Moorefield.

"We will work with the neighbours --- or try to work with the neighbours,", said company president Steve Murray, predicting matters won't end up at the OMB.

Holt is encouraging people to attend a public meeting called by Centre Wellington Township on the proposed expansion of Murray Group's Bowman pit on Middlebrook Road near the Elora Gorge.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 1 at the Elora Community Centre and includes a presentation by the Murray Group.

The committee was formed by the Murray Group and neighbours during the company's 1998 pit expansion. With the help of the OMB, an agreement was signed that placed noise and environmental disturbance limits.

Holt said the company wants to increase annual production to 350,000 tonnes at two of four pits there. "This will allow them to almost double haulage."

Haulage refers to the truck traffic shuttling gravel from pits to construction sites.

Murray wouldn't say how much is hauled now at the two pits slated for expansion, or how much is planned for the future there. "That's not public information."

He conceded the firm has license to take 950,000 tonnes a year from the four pits, though it's currently hauling away half that.

Holt said it's not the noise and traffic associated with expansion that's given neighbour's pause. "It's the ongoing operation we're concerned about."

Still, he doesn't see the problems as insurmountable. Noise, he said, could be reduced by building earth berms around the operation. Gravel truck traffic could also be reduced on Middlebrook Road by using nearby Third Line. Holt said the road is strategically located between the two pits to be expanded and connects to County Road 18, a major artery between Elora and Waterloo.

Murray said some compromise is possible, but not likely with the Third Line proposal. Third line, he said, is not paved and, in any case, isn't open in winter. "It isn't a good road."

As to noise, Murray said he's not convinced it's excessive, though his company is willing to consider abatement measures. They include modifying operations, such as using crushers and back entranceways furthest from residents.

Murray stressed the pits were operating since the early 1920s, long before neighbours moved to the area, so residents have little to complain about. Further, he said the pits are in areas designated for gravel extraction.

"It's a natural resource."