Objections must be received by April 3rd, 2017, and must contain your complete postal address in order to be accepted by the officials.

For more information on how and where to submit your letter of objection, please see File Your Objection.

You can copy and paste the template text below into your email program or word processor. It is offered only as a helpful guide or starting point, and you are encouraged to add any additional concerns that are important to you!

OBJECTION TO THE PROPOSED FREYMOND QUARRY

To Whom it may concern:

THE PROPOSED AGGREGATE MINE

The proposed site is 2287 Bay Lake Road, Bancroft ON. It is applying for a license to mine and crush 300,000 tonnes of aggregate annually at a current selling price of approximately $4,000,000 FOUR MILLION DOLLARS each year for the Freymond Operation.

OBJECTIONS

GRAVEL TRUCK TRAFFIC

Trips

In order to deliver the aggregate to market gravel trucks are used to haul the material to the customers. These trucks have a capacity of between 11 and 22 tonnes depending on the number of wheels and the physical size of the unit. (1) https://www.reference.com/science/many-tons-gravel-can-fit-dump-truck-89dc08c93ac5e34d?qo=contentSimilarQuestions#

For the delivery of 300,000 tonnes this would require the use of between 13,225 and 25,445 trucks or 36 to 70 trucks per day every day. Since that is the capacity for hauling the material out that means 72 to 140 trips per day of large noisy gravel trucks up and down Bay Lake Road, everyday.

This assumes a 24 hour per day 7 day a week operation. If the operation time of the quarry is limited to 12 hours per day 6 days per week the truck trips would be one every 4 to 8 minutes pulling on to Bay Lake Road or 62 highway. When merge times are added for existing vehicle use the obvious result of this huge traffic increase will cause gridlock for everyone using 62 highway or Bay Lake Road.

Air Pollution

Besides the huge traffic problems which will be created by such an enterprise there will be an immense increase in exhaust gases produced by this large number of trucks.

However, this is not the only source of air pollution. Fugitive Dust Emissions are also generated from the plant yard due to vehicular traffic and wind. (2) https://businessimpactenvironment.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/environmental-issues-in-stone-crushers/

This dust settles on the vehicles during loading operation and is then blown off as the truck moves down the highway. This fugitive dust is then deposited on the highway where it is then spread by all vehicles in the air as the tires pick it up.

The dust is then in the air to be spread by the wind and is deposited on the surrounding environment where it can kill both vegetation and aquatic life depending on the formulation of the compound and its toxicity levels.

Noise Pollution

Obviously, the addition of that number of vehicles to the area will result in a huge noise increase from engines, air brakes, gear changes, back up alarms etc. This will destroy the quiet enjoyment of all residents.

MINING OPERATIONS

Excavation and Processing

The aggregate is mined by using explosives to break the material into movable pieces by heavy machinery where the material is crushed into product and transferred to stockpiles for loading into trucks for transport.

Air Pollution

All operations will produce fugitive dust sources which will contaminate the air and be harmful to surrounding environment. Although mitigating measures will be employed no effective measures for controlling particulate emissions from blasting are available. (2) https://businessimpactenvironment.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/environmental-issues-in-stone-crushers/

Noise Pollution

Blasting, extracting, crushing and conveying equipment will produce sound levels which will affect wildlife habitat and quiet enjoyment of surrounding properties. Low frequency sound will be transmitted into fish spawning areas as well as blasting shockwaves.

Potential Pop Ups

Occasionally pop-ups occur in the quarries, such as Marmoraton Mine near Madoc, Ontario, and stress relief fracturing can be catastrophic when they create underground mining “rockbursts.”(4) https://uwaterloo.ca/wat-on-earth/news/pop-physics

As documents have shown, there have already been incidents where Long’s Quarry experienced “pop-ups” in its floor and affected the water table in the area – a water table already fragile, by most accounts. (5) http://www.intelligencer.ca/2014/08/14/chris-malette-a-quarry-quandary

LAKE TROUT SPAWING BEDS LAKE JEFFERY

Lake Trout Habitat

Of the quarter of a million lakes in Ontario, only two thousand some odd (or 1 percent) have been identified as capable of supporting lake trout. Few of these lakes are close to population centres, accessible as a recreational source. Slightly over 50 of these lakes are in the Bancroft area, and the 1980 Ministry of the Environment/Ministry of Natural Resources report has identified 52 lakes in the northern portion of the Southeastern Region as containing water quality conditions suitable for the survival of lake trout. Such lakes require a sufficient volume of water below a temperature of 10 Degrees Celsius, and containing dissolved oxygen in excess of 5Mg/L. Reductions in dissolved oxygen increase with an increase of nutrient supply. (3) OMB Ruling S8400110840073R840170

Most Highly Sensitive Lake

Jeffery Lake having an area of only 42 hectares and a flushing rate of only 0.2 times per year is rate amongst the most highly sensitive lakes. (3) OMB Ruling S8400110840073R840170

Any changes to the flushing rate, water temperature caused by changes to the water table or changes to the oxygen content caused by the deposit of fugitive dust sources from aggregate mining will result in the loss of this spawning bed and the lake trout population.

Official Plan

2.2 Environmental Goal

To maximize the quality of the environment of the Planning Area by establishing guidelines and policies for the utilization of land and water resources, by minimizing the pollution of water, air and land and by preserving the distinctive features of the landscape. All other goals should satisfy the requirements of the environmental goal so as to improve the quality of life for the people of Hastings County. (3) OMB Ruling S8400110840073R840170

2.3 Environmental Objectives

SURROUNDING PROPERTY VALUE REDUCTION

The quarry proponents claim there will be no impact on property values surrounding the mine. MPAC has made property value adjustments for tax purposes.

MUNICIPAL PROPERTY ASSESSMENT CORPORATION

October 11 2012

Don MacDow Director, PitSense [email protected]

Dear Mr. MacDow:

Thank you for meeting with us on Friday, August 30. Please find below some details on the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation’s (MPAC) next steps.

As we discussed at our meeting, we found that a lot of the impact of proximity to a gravel pit was accounted for within the location or neighbourhood adjustments. Based on our analysis, MPAC has applied a -4% adjustment to residential properties that abut an active or proposed gravel pit for the 2012 Assessment Update. A -2% adjustment will be applied to residential properties that do not abut but are within one kilometre of an active or proposed gravel pit.

In addition, we have asked local staff in MPAC’s Mississauga field office to review the assessed values of the residential properties around the proposed gravel pits in Halton and Peel. We will endeavor to have this review completed within the next couple of months. Property Assessment Notices will be mailed to ratepayers in Halton and Peel in late October and November. If any members of your group have questions about their property’s assessed value, please have them review their Property Assessment Notice to ensure that it contains the most upto-date information about their property. Ask them to visit www.aboutmyproperty.ca to learn how and why their property was assessed the way it was by comparing it to others in the neighbourhood and community. If they feel their property is incorrectly assessed, they can file a Request for Reconsideration (RfR) until March 31, 2013. The RfR form is available at www.mpac.ca.

If you have any questions or feel that I have not included an item discussed at the meeting, please feel free to contact me directly.

Yours truly,

Jay Moore Valuation Manager, Assessment Standards and Mass Appraisal T: 905 688-1968 ext. 275 1 877-511-1182 ext. 275 E: [email protected]

PO Box 9808, Toronto ON MIS 5T9 Toll Free: 1.866.296.6722 Fax: 1.866.297.6703

Exhaustive case studies and surveys also show property value reductions more than THIRTY NINE PERCENT (39%). (6) http://www.lansinkappraisals.com/downloads/Lansink’s%20Case%20Study%20Pit%20or%20Quarry%20Jan%202014.pdf

http://www.pitsense.ca/uploads/mpacsubmissiondec_2011b.pdf

Unfunded Liability

There are no adequate financial instruments such as bonds and liability insurance in place to compensate for:

Unforeseen consequences from operations on the environment
Diminution in price of surrounding properties and businesses.
Protection for the County and Township should the company become insolvent though liability exposure.

No Social Impact Study

A Social Impact Study (SIS) or Social Impact Assessment (SIA) would determine the social changes likely to occur as a direct or indirect result of an Industrial Aggregate Extraction operation. The SIS/SIA process involves:

describing the existing social conditions,
predicting the social changes that may result from the project;
assessing the significance of the predicted changes, and;
identifying ways of lessening potential impacts.

Studies or Assessments of social impacts are generally associated with five types of change:

Demographic change including the size and composition of the resident population, influx of temporary work force or new recreational users, community facility and social infrastructure requirements;
Economic change including new patterns of business, employment/income, local economic effects, real estate property values & speculation, crime and public safety, accommodation and housing;
Health and well-being changes, both immediate and cumulative, including cultural, family, leisure, recreation and community health issues, community safety, needs of social groups, heritage & social amenity issues;
Environmental change including alterations to air quality, land use, natural habitat and hydrological regime; and
Institutional change including the structure of local government or traditional leadership, zoning by-laws or land tenure, legal issues.

In light of these unanswered objections to the Freymond Quarry it should not be allowed to proceed.

Sincerely,

[type your name here]

[type your mailing address here]