CBS council approves quarry permit to dismay of neighbours

By Craig Westcott

A decision by CBS council to approve a quarry permit for Red Bridge Road has left some residents in the area disappointed and angry.

The decision to approve the permit passed 7-1 at the February 18 public meeting with only the area’s ward councillor, Gerard Tilley, voting against it.

Deputy Mayor Andrea Gosse abstained from the vote as she is a shareholder in Platinum Construction, the company that applied for the permit.

In January, council rejected an application by a different construction company to operate a quarry on the same road.

The councillors who spoke in favour of Platinum’s approval argued it was really a replacement of an existing permit, not approval of a new quarry. Sun Construction, owned by former Mayor Richard Gosse, has held the permit since 1998. Platinum Construction is owned by Gosse’s son Tony and Tony’s wife, the deputy mayor.

According to a briefing note provided to council, Sun’s permit lapsed last year – in May according to the residents who oppose the permit. Platinum applied for the new permit on December 23.

A delegation of residents from Red Bridge Road who attended the public council meeting were not given permission to speak but had plenty to say afterwards.

The vote ran into a hitch at first when councillor-at-large Paul Connors offered to make a motion on behalf of the residents to delay the permit vote until a public hearing could be held on the application.

Mayor Darrin Bent pointed out the Town did advertise the application and had requested public comment. A petition and nine separate submissions, all opposed to the quarry, were received.

“Mayor Bent, just to confirm, this is the recommendation about a quarry that is just being renamed, correct?” asked Ward 1 councillor Shelly Moores. “It’s not a new quarry… correct? It’s just changing the name of the permit holder.”

“Yes,” agreed the mayor.

Following the rules of procedure, Bent called for the original motion – to approve the quarry – to be moved and seconded, so that Connors could have his chance to propose an amendment to put the decision on hold.

With that done, Connors got to make his motion to defer the decision, but no other councillor would second it.

“The amendment fails, councillor Connors,” said Bent. “We’ll move on with the (original) motion as it stands… Does anyone want to speak to it?”

Tilley said he was voting against the approval, noting he had presented a petition from the residents on February 4. “There were multiple reasons why they didn’t think it was a good fit for the area; heavy equipment on a highly residential road, dust and noise pollution, impacts from run-off, especially into the Kelligrews River.”

But, Tilley said, his biggest concern is the quarry’s proximity to Sgt. Ned Nugent Park.

The quarry is located at 202 Red Bridge Road. That is just beyond the entrance to the park, which houses a soccer field, softball pitch, rugby field, dog park and a trail to Legion Road.

“It’s our biggest recreation facility in the town,” Tilley said. “We receive a tonne of people there every year, especially in the summer months. And my biggest concern is the lack of sidewalks in that area.”

Tilley said me might have voted for the permit if there had been sidewalks on the road.

Connors said he too was conflicted. 

“As councillor Moores just pointed out, this is a family-owned business where a director on one company is a director of another company and they just want to move it to that second company because the original business, the gentleman is getting older, and the business is probably going to cease. So, it’s just moving this. It’s not a new quarry. I did some (research) work and it’s been said that there’s three or four quarries in there now. There’s only one permitted quarry at the end of Red Bridge Road now and this is the last one. It has a useful life of five to seven years. So, I will be supporting this tonight because I think it’s just a change of ownership. There’s no increased activity. The concerns that residents have raised, I totally agree with, and what councillor Tilley just said I totally agree with. We need to improve the safety of Red Bridge Road in around the ballfield for the residents going in and out the road. But I think that’s a different (issue) than the ownership of the quarry.”

Councillor-at-Large Rex Hillier agreed with Connors. 

“This is the third quarry we’ve dealt with, probably in as many meetings,” said Hillier. “One of them was for a new quarry on Red Bridge Road that we turned down for obvious reasons. There’s no room for more traffic on Red Bridge Road. And as long as I’m in this seat I will not be voting for a new quarry on Red Bridge Road. The other one was a quarry that changed the name of its ownership, which is exactly what we’ve got here tonight, and we approved that one in Seal Cove. This evening we’re dealing with one again that’s just changing the name, there’s no extra traffic, there’s no change in the use, and as a result I’ll be supporting it.”

Bent said council has been clear that it will not approve any new quarries on Red Bridge Road.

“I understand that there is concern about safety on the road,” he added. “I think there is an onus on council to make safety on Red Bridge Road a priority… I’d be happy to support a look at sidewalks, or anything else that we can do on Red Bridge Road to make it more safe. But I do that with the idea that there is heavy equipment on most every road in town, at some point or other.”

Bent said council is taking measures throughout CBS to improve traffic safety, and council should look at more measures in the area around Sgt. Ned Nugent Park.

“The other thing I want to say about this is blasting,” Bent said. “Blasting has been a concern of mine in the past. We had issues in Ward 1 when I was the councillor up there with regards to unknown blasting happening and everybody wondering why their houses were rattling. I understand that we’ll be making that a condition of the permit, that there is proper notice given to residents with regards to any blasting that may happen, although I understand there hasn’t been any blasting up there in a couple of years or more, and it doesn’t happen very frequently. But when it does, we want to make sure that the local residents are aware when it’s going to happen.”