The Highland Companies announced today that it is withdrawing its application to develop a quarry in Melancthon Township. Highland also intends to discontinue its efforts to restore the rail corridor through Dufferin County. In addition, Highland announced that John Lowndes has resigned from his role as President and has no further involvement with the company.

“While we believe that the quarry would have brought significant economic benefit to Melancthon Township and served Ontario’s well-documented need for aggregate, we acknowledge that the application does not have sufficient support from the community and government to justify proceeding with the approval process,” said John Scherer of The Highland Companies.

The press release, issued by Highland PR firm Hill & Knowlton Strategies,  said the company will continue to focus on its farms and on supplying its customers with high quality potatoes and other crops, and stated Highland remains proud of the improvements it has made through modernizing equipment and storage facilities as well as enhancing food and worker safety.