Get the latest
INFORMATION here
Can You Help?
Did you, or are you now
fighting to stop a pit in
your area?
VALLEY VOICES RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
PRESS RELEASE
June 23, 2005
Alnwick/Haldimand Council Caves In
Apparently disregarding the serious concerns of Valley Voices Residents Association and the vocal opposition of local ratepayers, Alnwick/Haldimand Township Council announced yesterday that it has reached a tentative agreement with Shelter Valley Aggregates Limited to permit an Aggregates Pit on Turk Road in the Shelter Valley area. No details of the agreement have been made public. While Council has not yet rezoned the land for aggregates use that now seems a certainty despite a recent OMB decision that confirms Council's right to say "NO".
Council appears to have ignored all concerns of residents regarding aggregates extraction below the water table, the haul route, noise, and other environmental issues and the relationship of the Pit lands to the adjoining former Township Dump containing DDT and other toxic materials. Turk Road residents are particularly concerned that the Dump may leach toxic waste into their well water as a result of aggregate extraction activity and that activity may also affect the availability of water. The residential properties on Turk Road were created by severances granted by Council, despite concerns expressed by the Ministry of Natural Resources that the area had know aggregate resources and that residential intensification was not recommended.
The Township Dump was formerly part of the proposed aggregate Pit lands until 2001 when Council allowed a severance. The severed Township Dump lands were transferred to a company incorporated in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Council permitted the severance for "agricultural related purposes". The present registered owner of the Dump, aptly named Turk Road Severance Ltd, is now "stuck off" the register in the Turks and Caicos Islands and may no longer exist. If, as believed, the property taxes on the Dump lands are in arrears it appear that Alnwick/Haldimand may soon have responsibility for the Dump again, raising the concern of a possible conflict of interest in their approval of the rezoning of the adjoining lands for aggregate extraction.
Valley Voices Residents Association is a not for profit corporation with over 200 members, dedicated to the protection of the scenic, historic Shelter Valley.
Carol Hanley, President, Valley
