a neighbouring home as viewed from the proposed pit site
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Valley Voices Letter to Alnwick/Haldimand Township Council:
July 15, 2003
Re: Shelter Valley Aggregates, Ltd., Aggregate Pit Application Proccess Dear Mayor Finley and Council Members, Thank you for the opportunity for all of the Valley Voices people to present their individual and our collective concerns and positions at the July 9 Council meeting. I personally found you to conduct the meeting in a very open manner. I have spoken with Mayor Finley on July 11 about how we as Valley Voices would appreciate being able to participate in this decision proccess. Mayor Finley has asked me to put these thoughts in writing and that in ten days he and Council would review and make decisions on them. 1. We realize that in any legal process there are at least two sides to understanding the issues. The proponent has its consultants and experts who are paid to find the data that supports the proponent in having Council and Natural Resources approve the Pit Application. We therefore believe that in the spirit of arriving at the "truth", experts on the other end of the spectrum ought to be selected in conducting peer reviews and new studies. In keeping with the open manner in which you conducted your meeting, Valley Voices would like to have a voice in the decision-making on which 'experts' are selected by Council to conduct peer reviews and initiate new studies. 2. We realize in a process that could take 1.5-2 years to complete, there may be a tendency for private meetings to occur between the proponents and members of Council, as well as members of Valley Voices. And while we acknowledge this to be the case, on those meetings that are 'public', we would appreciate notification with enough time to attend such meetings and represent our Shelter Valley community. We would appreciate your doing this by notifying our secretary of the upcoming meeting as early as possible. 3. We would like to be a party to any negotiations that Council may engage in on this Pit Application. We are not aggregate pit planning consultants. We do not have the expertise to know at this point of all the issues that may come up which could jeopardize the current norm you have created on openness and fairness. So we would like to reserve the right to make further requests of you to keep this process on the same foundation that you have established. Respectfully submitted, Mark Towers,
Co-Chair
Valley Voices
a neighbouring home as viewed from the proposed pit site
