Whereas the Town of Caledon is home to approximately 23 licensed active aggregate pits and quarries (19 pits and 4 quarries), and an overall identification of 6,150 hectares of high potential mineral aggregate resource area;
Whereas the identified high potential resource areas comprise 10% of the total area of Caledon;
Whereas demand for aggregates will likely increase with the Province’s goal of increasing the housing supply, and these operations will continue to have impacts on Caledon residents and our community;
Whereas Town Council wants to ensure our community’s concerns including noise, dust, vibration, increased truck traffic through existing communities, traffic safety, air pollution, impact to the water table and road degradation are addressed;
Whereas these impacts are most evident where aggregate operations are located close to the Town’s villages, hamlets and rural residential clusters that lie within or in proximity to the high potential aggregate resource areas;
Whereas the Province is co-funding an air quality study in Caledon, including one station targeted at the impact of these aggregate operations, to help in better understanding the impact on our air quality;
Whereas the Town is conducting a study to comprehensively review the current aggregate policies of our Official Plan and address the report of the Joint Peel-Caledon Aggregate Policy Review;
Now therefore be it resolved that the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry and Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks be requested to support approval by the Region of Peel policies in the new Caledon Official Plan that establish positive criteria for minimum influence areas and separation distances between the licensed pits and quarries, identified high potential mineral resource areas, designated and existing settlement areas, villages, hamlets, residential clusters and other sensitive land uses in order to achieve permanent land use compatibility within Caledon.