Arbour Farms – Update

CORE has been monitoring developments on the proposed Arbour Farms aggregate mining and processing operation for over 8 years. We have reviewed preliminary studies provided by the proponent on traffic safety and environmental impacts. We have even commissioned our own demonstration traffic exercise to determine the performance of fully loaded gravel trucks on the Airport Road. At present we are waiting for the proponent to table the latest version of their studies. We expect this will happen at the same time as the proponent officially submits an application for rezoning of the subject property from “rural agricultural” to “industrial extraction” and submits an application for an aggregate licence. The proponent will also need an entrance permit to allow gravel trucks to access the Airport Road. The rezoning decision will be made by Mulmur Township council. The request for an entrance permit will be reviewed by Dufferin County (as the Airport Road is a County road). And the issuing of Aggregate Licenses is an Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources responsibility. CORE will review all of the documents that are submitted in support of these various requests and respond accordingly. We have asked the MNR and the Township to consider holding a Public Meeting to review all of the materials given the length of time this application has been in process. Simply put we feel that so much time has passed since the public was first made aware of this situation that information has become stale in people’s minds and there have been new people who have moved into the area that should be brought into the decision making process. We have received verbal agreement from both the Township and the MNR that a Public Meeting should be held. We will pursue this at the appropriate time.

In the meantime thank you to everyone for your ongoing interest and support of our efforts.