The intention was to hold three days of testimony this week at the Ontario Municipal Board hearing into Hidden Quarry. Those intentions were quickly scuttled.
The hearing involves a challenge by the 1,150-member strong Concerned Residents Coalition, the Town of Halton Hills and the Regional Municipality of Halton against James Dick Construction’s plans to establish a quarry just east of Rockwood.
Hidden Quarry is seen by opponents as a potential threat to water resources in Halton and Guelph Eramosa regions, as well as posing risks and inconveniences from vibrations, fly-rock and noise.
The hearing opened Tuesday in a packed council chamber of the Guelph Eramosa Township offices along Wellington Road 24, a few kilometers east of Guelph.
There a plan was laid out to hear opening testimony for three days, but the hearing was adjourned on Wednesday pending a resolution of a procedural issue.
It is tentatively scheduled to resume on Thursday, Oct. 6., according to Linda Sword, a representative of the coalition.
The matter has already been before the OMB for nearly a year. Pre-hearings began in Nov. 2015, and continued in March and May of this year, in the lead up to the hearing.
The Concerned Residents Coalition (CRC), which formed in 2013, has raised about $300,000 for its part in the challenge, with the townships involved in the challenge spending significant dollars of their own to fight the proposal.
CRC alone will bring five expert witnesses to the hearing addressing blasting, hydrology, hydrogeology, aquatic habitat and planning issues.
James Dick’s plan for the proposed quarry at Highway 7 and 6th Line Eramosa is to mine 700,000 tonnes of dolomite rock annually for up to 17 years. The proposal requires re-zoning from agricultural to industrial/extractive, and an aggregate licence from the province.
Concerns about the safety of water is the main reason the plan is being challenged. The aggregate extraction plan anticipates digging several meters below the water table, something CRC and the others see as a threat to ground water.
