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'Save Balls Bridge': Citizens claim victory in gravel pit fight

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The “Stop the Pit” signs along Little Lakes Road near Goderich, Ont. tell you how most residents feel about a proposed gravel pit.

“It’s just the wrong thing, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and we all think it shouldn’t happen,” says Rebecca Garrett, leader of the Friends of Balls Bridge and Little Lakes Road citizen’s group.

Garrett and her fellow citizens have been fighting an application from V.B Sand and Gravel to take as much as 500,000 tonnes of sand and gravel a year from 30 hectares of land in the Municipality of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, within Huron County.

“We have far more aggregate already approved for extraction than we need in the next 20 years, so approving another quarry in Ontario rapidly is not something we need,” says David Donnelly, an environmental lawyer who is representing the citizen’s group in their legal fight against the proposed pit.

Donnelly says a recent decision by the Ontario Land Tribunal, granting a 10 day hearing instead of the normal three day hearing, into the gravel pit plan is a huge victory.

“It’s a huge deal. Particularly for residents and potentially, First Nations, up in this beautiful part of Ontario,” he says.

While the gravel pit company contends they plan to operate the pit for 15 to 20 years and will then rehabilitate the area afterwards, local residents don’t want it at all. They suggest the proximity to Balls Bridge, a restored 1885 architectural gem, and more than five species at risk along Little Lakes Road makes the proposed pit a mistake.

“Many, many different reasons that make this a very special place where there shouldn’t be an open pit, below water, aggregate mine. It shouldn’t happen here,” says Garrett.

Garrett and Donnelly say the 10 day hearing — to be heard a year from now — will give them plenty of time to make their case, that Little Lakes Road and Ball’s Bridge should be protected. 

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