Blue Mountain Watershed Trust questions Collingwood support for Walker

The following letter was sent to the Enterprise-Bulletin and The Connection

Open Letter from Blue Mountain Watershed Trust to the Mayor and Councillors of the Town of Collingwood Nov. 1, 2012

We noted in the local paper that Collingwood Council had approved a motion in favour of the new Walker Aggregate Quarry in Duntroon. It appears that Council misunderstood or was misled on the nature of the planned judicial review of the proposed new quarry.

The quarry was approved on June 18, 2012 by two members of the Consolidated Hearings Board with one member dissenting. The dissenting member, Mr. Wright, noted that the other members had failed to give the correct weight to the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act (NEPDA). In his conclusion, Mr. Wright states, “The majority decision in this matter sets a perilous course for increased development in the NEP Area that is not compatible with the natural environment of the Niagara Escarpment and land in its vicinity.”  This is a legal question. The Niagara Escarpment Commission, in a vote of 9 to 3, requested a judicial review of the decision because of the possible error in law. They really had no choice but to appeal this question of law. It is now before the courts and, in our opinion, municipalities should not interfere. The town of The Blue Mountains, in their wisdom, chose not to interfere in the process.

 Furthermore, it is clear to us that the Niagara Escarpment is threatened if the authority of the NEPD Act is diminished. There are many acceptable sources of aggregate in Ontario, for example, the Quarry on 40 located on Grey Road 40 south of Meaford. It is not wise to diminish the attractiveness of the Town of Collingwood by promoting quarries on the Escarpment. Tourism, recreation and employment are dependent on the Escarpment. We hope that Collingwood Council will understand that their motion was inappropriate and misdirected.

George Powell and Don Kerr, 

The Blue Mountain Watershed Trust

Note: Walker’s application for the 600,000 ton expansion is posted on the EBR.  The comment period is up until Dec. 14th. The BMWTF are in the process of preparing comments. Link to EBR. Any citizen of Ontario can comment.