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Armed with OMB ruling, Adjala-Tos readies new agreement to start pit operation

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In Adjala-Tosorontio
Mar 1st, 2018
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New Tecumseth Free Press Online

Adjala Tosorontio councillors will meet in special session tomorrow morning starting at 9 am to deal with several items including an updated Nelson Aggregates Agreement incorporating conditions imposed by the OMB in its ruling last month permitting the proposed gravel pit operation to proceed near Everett. As well, amendments requested by Nelson.

The planning report and draft agreement if accepted in principal, will move to council for ratification on March 12, which “will allow Nelson Aggegates to begin operation, so additional taxes and ‘TOARC’ levies will begin being paid to the Township.”

Nelson Aggregate’s subject site is 72.80 ha (180 acres) at Part Lots 6 and 7, Concession 4, which is located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Sideroad 5 and Simcoe County Road 13, approximately five kilometres northwest of Alliston and two kilometres south of Everett. At its peak, the operation is to extract annually upto one million tonnes of aggregate over 51.49 hectares (127.24 acres), below the groundwater table.

Among the OMB conditions, the levy to be paid by Nelson to the Township was reduced from $0.11506 per tonne to $0.115 per tonne; and vehicles related to the operation of the Pit ate not permitted to park on 5 Sideroad; space shall be provided on site for any queing required outside the hours of operation; Only those activities defined on the Site Plan are permitted; no recycling of materials is permitted on the site.Amendments to the agreement, whose draft dates back to October 2017, requested by Nelson (shown in italics) includes removing the words “all” and “associated with engineering” from “The operator shall be responsible for ‘all’ the reasonable costs of this peer review ‘assocated with engineering.’

The Operator shall convey to the Townshlp lands for conservation purposes, a property at
the north end of the subject lands (approximately l0ha in area confirmed by the OMB). And “The costs of the conveyance shall be covered by the Township.”

Nelson is to contribute a minimum of $100,000 in-kind toward the construction of works of the Township’s choice. But it wants struck from the agreement, “and indexed in accordance with Ontario’s Consumer Price Index”; and “In-kind contributions shall consist of aggregate materials and equipment/manpower.”

The Concerned Citizens in Adjala Tosorontio Inc. has led the opposition against the Township, County and Nelson Aggregates, including the OMB appeal. The group is currently reviewing its options for appeal.

Township using ‘Special’ meeting to ‘rush’ items

Letter to the editor, March 2, 2018

Seems to me this morning’s Adjala Tosorontio “Special” council meeting is just another example of our Township’s lack of transparency and absolute disrespect for their residents.

Apparently, there is one agenda item regarding funding for a bridge repair that is time sensitive, but they have taken advantage of that need to push through all sorts of other important issues in a rush without public scrutiny.

Two of the issues, the Nelson Aggregates Agreement, and the staff appeal for additional wage and benefits enhancements, are important issues that council should not be rushing through.

Thank goodness its an election year, and I do hope that people can read the writing on the wall and come out to vote for changes in our Township.

Annette Bays,
Loretto

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