24
MLBLUE
FALL2016
Local resident Ian Sinclair has beenpushed into a
positionhe neverwanted tobe in.
“When I retired Iwanted tomove into thewoodsand
livequietly,”he says.“But now I’mbusier thanever.”
InMayhenoticedabigwhite signon6
th
Sideroad
witha“wholebunchof happy language that I
didn’t understand,”andaphonenumber forTown
of theBlueMountains planner DeniseWhaley. So
he called that number.Andhe learned therewas a
proposed zoning change in theproperty across the
road fromhim.Aproposal to turn it intoagravel pit.
Sinclair has beenbusy ever since.
Forming the Friends of the Pretty RiverValley
organization, Sinclair quickly garneredover 800
signatures opposed to the re-zoning.That should
do it, right?Well, not exactly.
“At the endof the day I don’t knowwherewe’re
atwith the petition and I don’t know that that
necessarily changes things forme,” saysWhaley.
“A lot of people that sign those petitions don’t
actually have an interest in the area. Even if it got
to amillion signatures, itwon’t necessarily change
how I will writemy staff report. Because at the end
of the day I have to review it ongoodplanning.
I have to review the policies.Not justwhether
peoplewant a gravel pit there or not.”
That staff report is awaiting a revision to the the
technical aspects of the application; theMinistry of
Natural Resourceswants somemore trees in the
plan and the townwants the roadside berms to
be built a little differently.Once those changes are
made, and the planningdepartment feels they’re
ready, they’ll write that staff report.And after that,
town council will decidewhether to approve the
zoning change or not.
Meanwhile Sinclair’smomentum is building.And
because the potential pit is directly beside the
much-lovedThree Stage trail system, people are
becomingpassionate about the cause. People like
local legend and former NHL star ScottThornton.
“As anavidmountainbiker, road cyclist andover-all
natureenthusiast, I spenda tonof time in thePretty
RiverValley and can’t imagine the impact another
quarrywouldhaveon this rare, uniquepieceof
wilderness.We shouldbeprotecting theseareas
fromdevelopment, not encroachingon them.”
The area inquestion already has three operating
pits. In fact, this is not a newgravel pit at all,
merely an extensionof an existingone; an
extension thatwouldput the pit about 400metres
closer toPretty River Provincial Park than it is now.
“If the project is approved, the pit extension area
wouldnot increase the amount of gravel approved
tobe extracted from the area basedon the
license,” saysWhaley;“the new area of extraction
wouldbe combinedwith the existing license,
with themaximum amount of tonnes permitted
unchanged from the current license.Themaximum
tonnes per annum is 150,000metric tonnes.”
Formany, the decision is a clear one: don’tmess
with the Pretty RiverValley.
“The situationhere, environmentally, ecologically,
it’s all wrong,” says Ian Sinclair.Whether theTown
of theBlueMountains agreeswill be decided, by
council, at a later date.Whenwill that be?Not
even themayor can tell us.“I amnot aware that it
will be on the agenda anytime soon,” saysmayor
JohnMcKean via email.
Aswe go toprint, there are lots of questions
that remainunanswered. If youwant to learn
more andget involved, headonover to:
and
—Colin Field
The area in question already has
three operating pits. In fact, this is
not a new gravel pit at all, merely
an extension of an existing one.
PRETTYRIVERQUARRY
OPPONENTSGAINMOMENTUM
UP
FRONT
The Friends of the Pretty RiverValleywant to see the piece of forest and farmland in the bottom left corner of the photo stay just that. SCOTTHUNTER
