NEC denies quarry related roadwork
Clearview Township has been denied permission to complete upgrades to a road near the quarry in Duntroon.
As part of the expansion of the Walker Industries quarry and the sale and closure of County Road 91, Clearview Township has applied to upgrade the 26/27 Sideroad and 10th Concession but had to get special permission because the land is protected by the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC).
The permit is required as a result of a change in legislation that came into effect after a hearing board ruled on the quarry. The decision to deny works on the 26/27 Sideroad was made at a Nov. 19 commission meeting in Owen Sound. A decision on the 10th Concession was deferred until January.
NEC staff had recommended the reconstruction proposal, submitted in January 2014, be approved with conditions but after a lengthy staff presentation and several deputations, the commission voted it down.
Clearview Township Councillor Shawn Davidson, who was recently reappointed to the commission as the Simcoe County representative, was the only one to support the proposal.
In order to make a change to an existing road or change a road it has to be deemed an “essential use”.
“The commissioners themselves did not feel it was an essential use. They were convinced by Grey Highlands and the lawyers and the other people who were there making presentations,” said Davidson. “Yes, everything is tied together but at the same time, it’s an application to upgrade an existing road but they tied everything to the quarry… Everything was tied to closing County Road 91 and at the end of the day they can’t support closing County Road 91 so in order to hopefully save that they won’t allow us to open up this road so that there isn’t enough capacity so we have to keep 91 open. That was the strategic thinking behind it all.”
Clearview Township has 14 days to appeal once it receives the official notice of decision. Council will have to decide whether or not to appeal at its next meeting.
Davidson said the municipality is investigating its options and meetings are planned for this week.
“There is a unique section in the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act that when a municipality is the appellant, it goes right to the minister. There is no hearing, no drawn out thing, everything just ends up on the minister’s desk and the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry will make a decision whether he supports the staff, the commission or he does something totally different,” said Davidson.
The road servicing agreement was embedded into a 2012 OMB ruling. If Clearview can’t proceed with upgrades, Davidson said, all parties including Walker Industries and the County of Simcoe, will have to come up with alternatives to present to the OMB.
Two of the delegations to the NEC were related to a legal opinion prepared by Donnelly Law for Wendy Franks which claims that Clearview Township breached the Municipal Act by providing a “bonus or undue advantage” by undervaluing the road sold to Walker Industries after it was downloaded from the county. It also states Clearview should have declared a portion of County Road 91 should have passed a bylaw declaring the road surplus before selling.
Representatives of Clearview Community Coalition and Blue Mountain Watershed Trust spoke during a public participation period at Clearview council Monday night, encouraging council not to proceed with its plans.
Richard Cornell, of Clearview Community Coalition, expressed concerns about runaway trucks on County Road 91, saying the haul route should not go through the village of Duntroon.
Resident Neil Buie urged council to be as transparent as possible during the process.
“In the past, decisions were made in camera, which appeared suspect to the public,” he said.
