Issues

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The entire area is part of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA) Upper Nottawasaga River Subwatershed. According to NVCA all the properties are classed as "Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas" and there is at least one "Highly Vulnerable Aquifer" at the westerly edge. The Sheldon Creek, one of the tributaries to the Nottawasaga River is less than 500 meters west of the properties

This is NOT a local issue which only affects adjacent properties. Gravel pits require significant amounts of water to operate while at the same time removing the very material which acts to purify recharge water. Groundwater is mobile. Wells can be affected at considerable distances from heavy draws and pollution can travel for kilometers from the source.

The Ministry of Environment considers gravel pits an "anthropogenically-induced groundwater pathway", i.e. an unnatural pathway for water. To read more about groundwater, please see

MOE Source Water Protection Report

According to both Statistics Canada and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Ontario loses over 300 acres of farmland a day. To put this in perspective, that is approximately an area the size of Toronto every year. This is clearly NOT sustainable!

Ignoring for the moment that local food is widely acknowledged to be better food, agriculture in Ontario supports approximately 158,000 jobs with $8.1 billion in wages and salaries. It is one of the largest segments of our economy, both provincially and locally. The trickle down effect on the economy to both farm and non specific suppliers is substantial. Local argiculture is one of the few industries that cannot be outsourced or sent offshore. We need to protect this sustainable industry in every way we can.

Placing gravel pits on active farmland is a despicable waste of a dwindling vital resource!

The Town of Mono is known for outdoor recreation, especially hiking, cross country skiing and biking. Dust pollution from gravel pits presents a real risk to not only local residents, but all those participating in these activities and the economic/tourism benefits they produce.

The operation of pits can produce significant air pollution. Heavy vehicles on the pit floor as well as machinery such as crushers and screeners used to process raw aggregate all raise dust composed of fine particulate matter containing silica which can travel for long distances.

This dust is not just a nuisance, it is dangerous. Fine particulate matter (<10 microns) is considered toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). Smaller particles (<2.5 microns) can lodge in the lungs and there is no way to remove it. It stays in your lungs for life! Such crystalline silica dust is a known carcinogen. Health Canada Particulate Studies

As a partial mitigation, pit operators use CaCl2 and MgCl2 mixed with water to attempt to reduce these releases from vehicles travelling the pit floor (crushers and sceeners are a different story). They draw significant water from the aquifer and spread these chemical mixtures over the pit. These chemicals are toxic to plants and once re-absorbed have the potential to pollute groundwater.

The area is composed of steep rolling hills with significant road grades, including not only the country roads, but also those on Hwy 89 and Airport Road. This presents a two-fold safety problem in that loaded gravel trucks take significant time to accelerate to normal road speeds and to safely stop on such grades. One of the most important factors in traffic safety is the difference in speed of vehicles sharing the road. The bigger the difference, the higher the likelihood of accidents. Accidents involving loaded gravel trucks are particularly dangerous because of the weight involved.

Due to the rural residential nature of the area, school buses are a constant fixture. How will the safety of our children be affected by huge, heavy trucks suddenly encountering a stopped school bus upon cresting a hill?

The local roads are used not only for local residents, but extensively for hiking and biking by visitors to our beautiful town. How many of those visitors who bring economic benefit to our local businesses, will continue to visit our area if they have to battle constant gravel truck traffic.

Heavy trucks have a significant effect on roads, the heavier the more dramatic the impact. The ongoing maintenance of roads is the financial responsibility of the town, county and province, NOT the pit operator.

The proposed gravel pits will dramatically change the character of the area from rural residential, farming and recreation to an industrial zone! The only significant noise pollution sources currently are Hwy 89 and intermittently from farming.

Hwy89 is a required route for commuting, school buses, and province wide commerce. It is a necessary fixture and the noise from it is accepted as such by most residents.

Farming produces significant noise, but only for a few days during spring planting and fall harvest plus an occasional mid-summer hay cut. Again, this is a necessary fixture of country living and the practice pre-existed most residents.

Pits produce significant noise, typically 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for decades. The increased truck traffic will produce additional noise along all the routes used to transport the mined aggregate. These factors combine to prevent local residents and those along haul routes from what the Environmental Protection Act calls the ‘"normal use and enjoyment of one’s property".

The vast majority of the nearby residents are middle to senior aged folks raising families in a clean, quiet, peaceful location purchased years and in many cases decades ago. Many are artists or entrepreneurs with home studios/offices who contribute to the local economy.

Not only will these families be negatively affected by water, noise and air pollution plus vastly increased heavy truck traffic, but their hard won investments in their homes will be devastated. Studies show that when pits are added to such rural residential areas, property values decrease from 8-40% overnight. Property values are already dropping based solely on news that Greenwood plans a pit, before any applications have even been submitted. This is not isolated to directly adjacent properties, but rather forms concentric circles with slowly decreasing effect as you move farther from the pit.

A home for most people, is their largest single investment. For decades, governments have constantly advised Ontario citizens to save for retirement. If these pits are approved, those same governments will have a direct hand not only in destroying a significant portion of those retirement savings for many families, but also the clean, safe neighbourhood they chose for raising their children.

Recent changes to the Aggregate Resources Act would allow gravel pit operators to turn their pits into permanent aggregate recycling centres. While recycling of aggregate is a noble and necessary idea, locating these centres far from the source of waste materials rather than building a site for this purpose close to waste sources has the following negative consequences:

  • Requires shipping, increasing both the length of travel and number of heavy trucks
  • There is a serious risk of ground water contamination from the waste materials which unlike landfills, pits are not designed to contain
  • Air and noise pollution are greatly increased by the crushing of waste materials
  • There is the danger that pits will become dumping grounds, with no intention of recycling. This behaviour has already been witnessed at locations in Ontario

For these reasons, it is much preferable and just common sense, to site aggregate recycling in properly designed facilities, enclosed to prevent air, water and noise pollution and as close to significant sources of waste aggregate as possible.