Gravel pit fight near Goderich, Ont. enters third year

The “Stop the Pit” sign is faded, but the fight to keep a gravel pit away from Huron County’s famed Ball’s Bridge is just heating up.

“[It will be] three years next month. Three years since this all started,” said Rebecca Garrett, who lives across the road from the proposed project.

Garrett has been leading the charge to stop the development of a gravel pit on Little Lakes Road, near the town of Benmiller and within view of Ball’s Bridge, an 1885-constructed bridge saved by the community back in 2007.

“The unique experience of that bridge will be really devalued by the noise and dust of an open pit ground mine, right beside it, basically,” said Garrett.

The fate of the Little Lakes Road pit is likely to be decided at an Ontario Land Tribunal hearing this September.

Garrett’s group, the Friends of Ball’s Bridge and Little Lakes Road Citizen’s, said the pit isn’t even needed. There are more than 50 gravel and sand pits within the Maitland and Bayfield River watersheds already.

Rebecca Garrett, leader of Friends of Ball’s Bridge and Little Lakes Road Citizen’s Group, talked about maps showing the more than 50 gravel and sand pits in the Maitland and Bayfield River watershed in Huron County, as seen on July 18, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“The figures we have from last year is, they only took 30 per cent of the gravel they are licensed to take out, so there’s really no reason at all to licence another pit in this area,” said Garrett.

The Little Lakes Citizen’s group is calling for a full environmental assessment of the proposed pit area, as it’s home to not only Ball’s Bridge, but a series of naturally occurring lakes with several species at risk.

Garrett believes extracting as much as 500,000 tonnes of sand and gravel from the 30 hectares of farm and forestland along Little Lakes Road each year is an unsustainable choice.

“Over and over, people have said, ‘You can’t fight this, it’s a done deal. There’s nothing you can do.’ We absolutely don’t believe that, and we are doing everything we can to fight this, to stop this from happening,” she said.

An event to draw attention to the proposed project is happening this Saturday, July 22, at Ball’s Bridge near Goderich. More information can be found online.

A current gravel pit near the proposed site of the Little Lakes Road gravel pit near Ball’s Bridge in Huron County, seen on July 18, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)