Group opposing gravel pit amidst 'cultural heritage landscape'
Rebecca Garrett is leading the charge to keep a gravel pit from replacing a lush landscape in the midst of Huron County.
“They’re not seeing all the riches of this place. The things that people treasure,” says Garrett.
Garrett and her fellow members of Friends of Little Lakes Road are fighting plans to turn about 30 hectares (75 acres) of farm fields and forest that are abutting wetlands, inland lakes and Canada’s last wrought iron double-span bridge, into a gravel pit.
“Everything that’s done here is going to be blown onto the bridge. Dust, contaminants, noise. Everything’s going to go that way to the bridge and into the river,” says Garrett.
Daryl Ball’s family and supporters saved the historic Ball’s Bridge near Auburn, from demolition, about 15 years ago.
He’s worried what effect a gravel pit, just a few hundred metres away, will have on the structure and “recreational” area, used by cyclists, hikers, kayakers and fishermen.
“They haven’t done a study on the whole effect on the bridge. So, we’re hoping they do a full study to preserve the bridge, to make there isn’t going to be any damage to the bridge, with the pit there,” says Ball.
The Little Lakes Road gravel pit proponents, Lobo Sand and Gravel, want to extract up to 500,000 tonnes of sand and gravel from their proposed pit each year.
Melanie Horton of Esher Planning says they anticipate the pit running for 10 to 15 years, and say they have and will rehabilitate the area like they have in previous operations.
But Garrett and Ball are worried about the long-term and short-term impacts heavy equipment will have on this little slice of paradise.
“It has a very high recreational use, this whole road. It’s actually related to Huron County’s tourism plans, so it’s not a great place to have a haulage route full of a hundred dump trucks a day, hauling gravel. I think this area is a provincial treasure, as well as a local treasure,” says Garrett.
An application to rezone the proposed gravel pit area from agricultural to aggregate will come before Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh council during a public meeting on July 26.
The ultimate approval of the proposed gravel pit lies with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
You can learn more about the Friends of Little Lakes Road here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Quebec judge orders bus driver to stand trial for 2023 daycare crash deaths
A judge has ordered a Quebec man to stand trial on charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of two children killed when a bus rammed into a Montreal-area daycare last year.
Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.