Red Deer County residents opposed to a proposed sand and gravel pit operation burst into applause on Tuesday after the county’s municipal planning commission unanimously rejected the project.
“They’re are just too many things wrong with this application,” said commission member Mayor Jim Wood.
Councillor Don Nesbitt said dust issues could be addressed “but the noise issues are something else.
“It’s unfortunate there’s a subdivision next to a gravel facility. But that’s the way it is,” he said, referring to Fleming subdivision just across the Red Deer River from the proposed pit.
About three dozen people packed council chambers to voice their opposition to reopening the sand and gravel pit, which is located south of the Burnt Lake Trail about five km west of Red Deer.
Residents in the area argued that allowing the pit would create a safety menace as gravel trucks made up to 200 trips a day along Burnt Lake Trail to Hwy 11.
Father-of-five Jeff Roberts told the commission his children have already had three near misses on the road because drivers blew past stopped school buses, ignoring warning lights.
“Safety is my utmost concern,” he said. “I plead with you guys to consider the safety of that highway above all else.”
After council nixed the gravel application, he expressed his relief that council heeded resident opposition.
“We’re thrilled. It was the right decision. It was the rational decision.”
However, Roberts doubted the proposal by Cremona-based Gabriel Construction (Alberta) Ltd. will be the last attempt to reopen the pit just west of the Red Deer River that has not been mined since 2003 when a previous one-year approval expired. Most of the gravel was extracted then and the new application mostly would have involved trucking away the remaining sand.
Edmonton lawyer Gwendolyn Stewart-Palmer, who was representing two dozen area residents, said on a typical day sand and gravel trucks will pass residents homes every 12 minutes. During big contracts, trucks will rumble by every three minutes on average.
Stewart-Palmer said the pit would operate in an area already identified by the county as environmentally sensitive. Further, no noise, traffic, or environmental impact assessments have been done.
“In our view, this fatally flaws this application,” she said.
Besides noise, dust and road safety concerns, some residents were worried that the vibration from trucks and the operation would worsen land slumping problems along the river that has already cost some residents several metres of their backyards.
Kelsy Silvaniuk, a representative for Gabriel Construction, had no comment on the decision.
Earlier, he told the commission the company wanted to work with residents and would do its best to address concerns.
Most of the hauling would take place in summer months, when school buses were less likely to be on the haul route.
The sand and gravel pit application was Gabriel Construction’s second attempt to land approval.
Last August, the company took an application before the planning commission and was told to rework the proposal in consultation with county staff to address concerns.
The updated application dropped an on-site asphalt or cement plant and eliminated crushing operations.
The hours of operation and the number of days the pit would be open were also reduced.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com