Residents concerned about noise, traffic if gravel pit proceeds

ST. JACOBS — Residents of Winterbourne peppered the operators of the controversial Jigs Hollow gravel pit with questions at a public meeting on Wednesday.

Did you test noise levels? What about traffic? Do you think it’s appropriate to put a gravel pit in the middle of this natural landscape, surrounded by farmland?

Preston Sand and Gravel Co. Ltd. operates the pit and it needs approval to change the rules of where it can mine gravel at the 36-acre Winterbourne site.

“It’s pretty hard to imagine we would be happy for this operation to go forward,” said Tony Dowling, an area resident and member of Friends of Winterbourne Valley, a resident group.

The 36-acre pit met resistance from nearby residents six years ago when it was first proposed, and it still faces resistance for many of the same reasons.

Paul Marrow lives about 770 meters from the pit and said he can hear horses trotting along the Peel Street Bridge from inside his house.

He was worried about how loud trucks will be going down the same bridge.

“How am I not going to be bothered by that?”

Preston already had permission to extract gravel from the site as long as it stayed 1.5 meters above the water table.

But when pooling water was discovered in 2014 during site prep work, it turned out the water table was higher than originally determined.

Preston will now need to go below the water table to extract gravel.

“The water table had actually risen which is typical of water tables depending on precipitation and years, it can rise and fall,” said Shawn Blacklock, vice-president and general manager of Preston.

He said they immediately ceased work and contacted the Ministry of the Environment.

“The most logical way to go forward from a business perspective was to mine the gravel below that,” he said.

They will now wait to get the approvals they need to go forward.

One is from the Township of Woolwich to lift a holding provision on the site. The other is an approval from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to mine beneath the water table.

But this new request adds a new complaint to the existing list of issues residents have with the pit: What will happen when it shuts down?

If mining goes beneath the water table, the pits are turned into ponds or lakes.

“We’ll lose 36 acres of farmland that can never be used as farmland again,” Dowling said, noting the farms in the area make up its cultural history.

The Township of Woolwich has yet to discuss the issue, but more public meetings are planned in the coming months.

“I think there are questions that are unanswered … they need to do more homework,” Dowling said.