The Link Magazine
December 2003/January 2004, Number 112
Located just northeast of Cobourg, in the beautiful Northumberland Hills, is the peaceful community of Shelter Valley. You may well have seen the road sign as you travel the 401. Shelter Valley is a wonderfully scenic area with wooded hills and valleys, peaceful farm fields and winding country roads. It is home to people who have lived in the area all their lives, and also to people who have been drawn here by the quiet call of the country. This is nature at its finest, in all its glory, loved by all.
Early this summer, a small number of residents were notified that an "out of area" company proposed opening a sand and gravel operation on a 140 acre parcel of land, right smack dab in the middle of this beautiful community. Word traveled quickly and within weeks a group of citizens had banded together and formed the Valley Voices Resident's Association. Members worked tirelessly throughout the summer researching issues, gathering membership and alerting residents of the area to the many concerns. Membership now stands at over 150 and is still growing.
Shelter Valley Aggregates proposes to run the gravel pit year-round from 6am to 7pm, 6 days a week, holidays excepted. The proposed pit would mutilate a wooded hill and the surrounding area, presently a breathtaking view from a number of neighbouring homes. The operators intend to take up to 9 million tonnes of gravel and sand from this property over 15-20 years, removing it with huge digging equipment, using rock crushers and other loud, air polluting machinery. The amount of gravel they propose to take will require up to 520 dump truck trips per day. This summer dump trucks rumbled back and forth in front of my house every 4-minutes while making repairs to a local road, drowning out the peaceful sounds of the birds, damaging the roads and coating everything in dust. With 520 trucks a day, or 40 an hour, we'll be lucky to get out of our driveways!!
This community is filled with families with young children who ride their bikes along the roadway, and wait beside the road for school buses . It is not uncommon to see a group of children with fishing poles or towels biking down to the creek, or people riding horses or walking dogs beside the roadways. It is also a strongly agricultural community. At certain times of the year, one can meet a combine or other large, slow moving piece of farm machinery on a narrow country road. 40 trucks per hour would present a clear danger to our community and is not at all in tune with the tranquillity of The Valley.
If one cares to look, there is always a silver lining. The comradery that has come as a result of this threat to our community has been amazing. Neighbours who up to this point had only known each other to wave from their cars, have become friends and allies. It has been incredible to discover the unique talents of the people in this community and to watch as we have pulled together and given of our time and creativity. None of us wanted or were prepared to stand up to our local Council on this issue, but we have risen to the task. As the process has continued, some have become leaders, others organizers and cheerleaders. If our efforts fail, at least we will end up learning a lot about our neighbours, ourselves and our community. We are so lucky to live in this beautiful area and proud of our efforts to protect it.
In a way, we have already won!
Kathie Lloyd
Shelter Valley Resident
top
