It's the Pits

Neighbours looking after Neighbours, February 2000, http://www.gravelwatch.org/, (519) 846-2298

Newsletter of the Pilkington West Ratepayers Association Middlebrook Chapter

The association was formed by residents in Pilkington West Township to deal with problems of gravel pit expansion proposals in the vicinity of the Bethel Church Road. The Middlebrook Chapter is dealing with the proposed pit expansion in the Middlebrook Road area.

On January 26, 2000, the negotiators for the Pilkington West Ratepayers Association and the operator (the Murray Group) of the gravel pit on Middlebrook Road, 3 km south of Elora, Ontario, reached an agreement regarding a pit extension. This was after more than two years of negotiations, eventually mediated by the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board). What happened and why was it so difficult? What did the mediation accomplish?

Neighbourhood Concerns

The neighbours were concerned with this pit and its expansion because of a number of problems.

Noise. The gravel pit, known as the Bowman pit complex, has for years produced loud and aggravating noise, in apparent violation of the Ontario Environment Protection Act (EPA). As established by experts and as repeatedly measured, when the pit uses one rock crusher and its asphalt plant, the noiseexceeded MOE Guidline NPC-232. Unfortunately, the pit has often operated with much more equipment than that, for example, with the asphalt plant and three crushers all running at the same time. In the summers of 1997 and 1998, the pit was operated at night, greatly exceeding the noise limit, keeping neighbours awake all night. The pit management was not responsive to the neighbours' complaints.

Environment, creeks and wells. As documented in photographs, the operator has apparently excavated gravel below the watertable, endangering Carroll Creek and wells in the neighbourhood.

Government Conformance Reports show that the operator has repeatedly excavated below its legally specified limits. The current pit failed to effectively rehabilitate pit lands. The proposed pit extension planned to destroy more woodlands and more farmland.

Asphalt plant. For years the asphalt plant started up with a roar early in the morning, around 6:30am, with a noise volume violating provincial noise guidelines. When this complaint was investigated by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), it turned out the plant had never had a noise audit, as required by its license. The operator replaced the plant's offending burner and then operated the modified plant without a valid license, until they were shut down by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) in June 1999. Engineering tests of the plant , required by MOE, showed that the plant violated Provincial "smell" limits.

80 meter long apparent excavation into watertable in Bowman Pit (February 11, 1999)

Other problems. Other concerns included speeding gravel trucks on local roads, danger to the historic Middlebrook schoolhouse from shaking by gravel trucks, views of pit operations from roads, and dust from the pit.

The Negotiations

Ideally, there should have been negotiations at the Township level avoiding the time, expense and stress of formal mediation. This proved to be impossible, because the Township made an agreement with the operator, behind closed doors, before the Public Meeting of September 21, 1998, which they had called to hear neighbourhood concerns. Until considerably later, the operator refused to negotiate with the neighbours. Attempts at informal negotiation dragged on until the OMB determined that it should step in as government mediator. In August 1999, the OMB set a series of four negotiating sessions, which stretched into five, from September through December 1999. The final session, in the cliff-hanging style of a labour negotiation, lasted past midnight. The spokesman for the pit was Mr. Richard Seibel, the Murray Group vice president. The pit operator fielded a team of over eight, including a land-use planner, two noise experts (one was discredited), an environmental expert, a hydrogeologist, three lawyers, etc. The spokesmen for the neighbourhood group were Dr. Harry Panjer and Dr. Ric Holt, with Mr. Randall Howard. The OMB government mediator, Mr. Bruce Krushelnicki, was excellent, as was our counsel, Mr. Peter Pickfield, and our noise expert, Mr. John Coulter. It was a terribly long and wasteful process, which never should have been necessary.

Results of the Negotiations

The settlement we've reached is better than could have been expected or hoped for. The details of this are in the OMB Minutes of Settlement along with the new pit site plan and the new license for the asphalt plant. The noise from the pit extension can be expected to meet Provincial Guidelines (hence no crushing at night, and generally only modest noise during the day). The asphalt plant's noise will be more than halved. There is now a reasonable maximum imposed on the total yearly pit traffic. The rehabilitation will be progressive (starting before the pit is half completed), and will eventually include a forest corridor linking Carroll Creek to Middlebrook Creek. The environmental damage is contained (except for the sad fact that the pit will actually be extended). The pit entry by the historical Middlebrook school house will scarcely be used. A new Liaison Committee, with required attendance by the operator, should allow us to see that future problems have a chance to be solved in an open forum. We will have access to the key information such as proposed changes to the pit site plans. Besides this, we hope that we have set some precedents for enforceability and openness that may benefit other neighbourhood groups facing similar challenges.

Ministries & Law Enforcement

Our work with the MOE (Ministry of Environment) and MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) has brought us into contact with their personnel and their practices. What we have observed is not very encouraging. Both ministries, as well as the GRCA (Grand River Conservation Authority), have been decimated by government cutbacks. One person in MNR is now responsible for almost 400 pits in our district. With his other work, he simply cannot conscientiously carry out this responsibility. The staff of both ministries is generally ineffective at seeing that the laws are enforced. The relevant laws, including the Environmental Protection Act and the Aggregate Resources Act, are reasonably good, but are commonly ignored by pit operators. We found the MNR particularly inept, destroying 1997 pit site plans and refusing to provide access to key documents (in violation of the Freedom of Information Act). The aggregate industry is now considered to be self regulating, which means the MNR is largely out of the picture. Unfortunately, the result, at least at the Bowman pit, has been freedom to ignore the law. It falls largely to the public to monitor activities such as gravel pits for environmental damage and law violations, and the Ministries have not sufficiently recognized this role.

Wreckage of Trees, Bowman Pit (January 2000)

The Future

Our lawyer, Peter Pickfield, says this about the settlement: "The combined effect of the mining restrictions and operational conditions arising from these Minutes of Settlement represent the toughest set of operational requirements for any aggregate operation that I have been involved with in my 12 year involvement with gravel pit applications. In particular, the Community Liaison Committee vehicle represents a ground breaking approach to neighborhood involvement and information sharing to ensure compliance. The specific noise mitigation measures which will be implemented by the Murray Group are tough and practical, and will lead to significant noise reductions both at the proposed new pit and on a cumulative basis from the pit complex as a result of new noise reduction requirements for the Asphalt plant."

We hope that the Liaison Committee and the open access to pit information required by the settlement will allow us and the pit operators to work out concerns in a cordial manner, and that this openness will create a situation in which the laws of the Province are obeyed. We all have to live together, neighbours, industry and the environment, and this is a good beginning.

See also the Summary of Minutes of Settlement, which gives details of the agreement between the neighbourhood group and the operator, and web site on pit.