Adj–Tos council decides not to comment on aggregate proposal

By Richard Blanchard New Tecumseth Times

Adjala–Tosorontio council has decided not to submit comments on the suitability of a proposed aggregate operation in former Tosorontio township at the corner of the 5th Sideroad and County Road 13 to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Council discussed the issue last Wednesday morning at a special council meeting.
There was a recommendation from Ward 3 councillor Bob Meadows which sought to have “council and planning personnel review the application package (from Nelson Aggregates) and prepared an executive summary of possible objections with reasons by Friday Feb. 27 to be circulated that day to council.”
Council would have meet this past Monday to review the document and other objections and submit a letter to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Nelson Aggregate prior to March 9, 2015.
Council went into closed session to discuss the ramifications of this motion with its lawyer and over an hour of discussion, returned to public session. Council decided to not move forward with Meadows’ recommendation and to not submit any comments on the proposal to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Councillor Floyd Pinto, in an email, Wednesday, said that council was advised that there were fears that comments to the Ministry of the Natural Resources would be seen as a sign of potential bias in the upcoming zoning hearings for the property later this year.
“Our township lawyer informed us that the deadline of 9th March is only for public concerns, that deadline does not effect council, as council will have an open public meeting in April sometime at the call of the mayor for the zoning, It is at that meeting that council can voice their opinions and the public will also get a chance to voice their concerns,” he wrote.
Deputy mayor Doug Little said Thursday that the advice from the township lawyer about bias caused council’s decision.
“I know that it wasn’t popular with some of the people at the meeting but there will the opportunity at the public meeting on the rezoning of the property to allow council and the public to speak about it. . Council wants to make sure that there is no indication of bias before this process begins. I don’t want to see the township involved in a needless court case about bias,” he said.
Anyone in Ontario will have an opportunity to comment on the proposal to the Ministry of Natural Resources up until next Monday, March 9.
Comments on the proposal must be sent to both the applicant: Nelson Aggregate Company, 2433 No. 2 Sideroad, P.O. Box 1070, Burlington, Ont., L7P 0G8, Attention Steven Drew. Nelson’s email address is, steve.drew@nelsonaggregate.com
And to the Ministry of Natural Resources Midhurst District Office, 2284 Nursery Road, Midhurst, Ont. L0L 1X0. The letters must be addressed to the attention of Brent Armstrong. The e-mail address for the MNR is midhurstagg@ontario.ca