On Monday March 21st Halton Hills Town Council was given a bus tour of the existing Acton Quarry prior to a public workshop discussion with representatives of Dufferin Aggregates about the future of the Quarry after mining is completed. The Quarry is located between the 3rd and 4th lines, straddles the 22nd Sideroad and is west of Limehouse in Halton Hills. Dufferin Aggregates has made an application to expand the existing operation but the pros and cons of that application were not the topic of discussion at the workshop on Monday night.
The reason that the after use of the Quarry was being discussed is because the Town holds the right of first refusal to buy the existing quarry property after it is mined out for the sum of 1 dollar. Therefore the Town needs to determine if it wants to exercise that right. Now is the time to make that determination because Dufferin is in the process of rehabilitating phases 1 and 2 of the existing quarry. They are using as their guide the requirements from the Province which may not be exactly what the Town would want if the Town is to become the eventual owner of the property.
The picture above is of the existing phase 1. As you can see in the distance there is an attractive stone cliff left from the blasting and below that there is a pond. The picture is deceptive as the pond is fairly large and could be called a small lake that is currently 25 feet deep at the far end. Eventually the mounds of gravel in the forground will be removed and the depth will increase by 10 feet. Phase 1 is on the north side of 22 Sideroad. Phase 2 is on the south side and the rehabitation plan for Phase 2 is for a dry bowl which will require continuous pumping in order to keep it dry.
In my next post I will explain why this decision is complicated and what some of the opportunities are.
If you have any inititial questions or comments please send them to me and I will provide comments back.
No comments:
Post a Comment