EARLY
WARNING to Middlesex Centre Residents!!!!
STOP any further development of a
potential zoning change and future gravel pit in the Bear creek/Hedley/Ilderton
Road Area!!!
Gravel Grades
were taken Nov 2009 in this Agricultural (A1) zoned area
March
2010 Update – Great News!
The
large London aggregate company has passed on this property – this was the
company that had taken grades in Nov 2009!!
The land owner is still trying to peddle this land to any company
willing to drop by.
April 2010 Updates
Correction –
I had assumed it was another local aggregate company that took grades on April
26, 2010. In fact, it was the landowner
that rented the excavation equipment and personnel from the local company were
there to see the results. It would seem
no other company was interested in performing work themselves. Hopefully, this is a very good sign for all
residents that prefer to continue to live in this quiet neighborhood. Perhaps integrity will prevail over greed. Grades were also taken within 100m of the
nearest residence. Field is now planted
and one can assume no more grades will be taken this year.
A potiential
setback of 300m is possible. This would
make a difficult pit operation almost impossible to run under the EPA/Ministry
rules and county setbacks.
A promise
to ALL potential pit operators
The Environment
Protection Act specifies all air, water, noise (ie all pollutants)
readings can be taken from a maximum distance of 30m from a residence. 30 metres from a residence directly east
(read prevailing westerly wind) of the property in question…is on the property
in question. All readings would be
monitored on a continual basis and every infraction will be logged and
reported. All EPA/Ministry limits will be enforced at all times. The ambient noise is very low.
PDF Document of the
region and where the grades and minimum set backs and issues (~294k) updated April 27, 2010
What to
fear…
Why they
shouldn’t
·
Large
Resource of Gravel already available at Nairn/Ilderton Road www.prodrain.on.ca/lobo/
· Protected Wet Lands within 1km of this area - http://www.scrca.on.ca/Publications/Information_Brochure_gen_regs.pdf
·
Very difficult to operate aggregate
operation within the specified EPA limits with nearby residences
For
further information, questions, complaints, letters of support please contact:
·
Email
- info@nogravelpit.org
·
Visit www.gravelwatch.org
– great site for additional information
What to do…
·
Call
your
MAYOR
Mr. Al Edmondson
14484 Eight Mile Road
RR 1
519 660-0559
Email: wa.edmondson@sympatico.ca
DEPUTY MAYOR
Mr. Albert Bannister
16016 Nine Mile Road
RR 3
519 461-1119 or Fax 519 461-1706
Councillor Ward 1
Mr. Ken Filson
13292 Ilderton Drive
519 666-2770
Email: k.filson@sympatico.ca
Councillor Ward 2
Mr. John Brennan
13082 Medway Road
RR 1
519 666-0549
Councillor Ward 3
Mr. Clare Bloomfield
12543 Ilderton Road RR 2
519 666-0978 or Fax 519 666-0261
Councillor Ward 4
Mr. Brian Ritchie
22862
519 657-2084
Councillor Ward 5
Mr. Frank Berze
28
519 652-1369
Email: fberze@rogers.com
These comments describe the background information required
and procedures to be followed to complain effectively and prevent excess noise
from being emitted by industrial sites such as gravel pits and quarries. The
same information and procedures are generally applicable if excess noise is
being produced by other industries. The comments below are mainly concerned
with excess noise being produced in rural areas, but similar advice applies to
urban situations. Every attempt has been made to ensure that the information
given and the procedures suggested are correct. Please inform Gravel Watch
Ontario if any of these comments need to be revised. To obtain expert advice,
contact a consultant or professional engineer specializing in acoustics and, if
necessary, an environmental lawyer.
To control noise, you need to complain. The good news is that if you have a genuine complaint about
excessive noise from an aggregate operation the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)
and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) will apply the law and force the
aggregate operator to reduce the noise levels to the legal limit. Several
members of Gravel Watch Ontario have gone through the complaint process and the
offending aggregate operators did in fact reduce the noise to the legal limit.
To complain effectively you need to:
Step 1: Check out the noise. Know how to determine if the noise from the
aggregate operation is exceeding the Ontario Noise Guideline limits and record
the information required to make a complaint. For details see Measuring and recording the information needed to make a
complaint.
Step 2: Who to
complaint to. Identify who needs to be contacted to officially
register the complaint. For details see Persons or groups to be included when registering a
complaint.
Step 3: How to
complain. Write and mail the letter of complaint to each person/group
identified in Step 2. It is important to realize that the process of making the
aggregate operator keep the noise to within the legal limits is
complaint-driven.
Step 4: Follow
up. Follow up the letters of complaint by contacting the appropriate
MNR/MOE officials at regular intervals. See also the MNR/MOE protocol for handling
complaints.
Be
prepared to repeat steps 1 to 4 on each occasion that the noise exceeds the
legal limit. If past experience suggests (or the operator tells you) that
the excess noise will continue for several days, make daily measurements
(several times a day if possible) and after accumulating a number of violations
send the next letter of complaint. The additional complaints are actually a
very important part of the process of ensuring that the MNR/MOE takes your
initial complaint seriously. Clearly, if the aggregate operator doesn’t seem to
care that you have complained to him and to the MNR/MOE, and he continues to
break the law it increases the likelihood that the process will move more
quickly. The above procedure may seem like a lot of work, and it is. However,
if you don’t make up your mind to be persistent until you get results you will be
plagued with unreasonable (and illegal) amounts of noise for as long as the pit
or quarry operates.