IS THE OMB GETTING COLD FEET?

Hot off the presses the Ontario Municipal Board has found against a proponent's proposal for a gravel pit on his property. The gravel pit was named the Hunder Pit and the proposed location was between Winterbourne and Conestogo in Woolwich Township. From the getgo I thought the location was particularily bad based upon its' location to very long established residential subdivisions as well as to the Grand River. In the Decision OMB vice-chair Susan Schiller stated that the proponent had failed to show on three out of four remaining issues that his pit would not cause unacceptable impacts. Visual impacts were dismissed by the Board however Noise, transportation and agricultural rehabilatation were accepted as being unacceptable impacts despite mitigation efforts.

Call me skeptical. I attended the hearing in full and while both the Township and the Conestogo-Winterbourne Residents Association mounted a very strong case; things I felt did not look good. From what was presented including the Aggregate Resources Act, the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) and the Official Plan (OP); it sure seemed to me that the laws, rules and processes were highly biased in favour of gravel extraction just about anywhere, anytime. Indeed I believe that is exactly the history of appeals to the OMB regarding gravel pits. It is also my belief that the proponent (Hunder) did his due diligence, spent money on lawyers, consultants, reports and plans as required. If this Decision holds it certainly signals a sea change at the OMB. There have been many other pits around the province with what many people felt were unacceptable impacts yet they went through the Board sucessfully. This Board is an Appointment of the provincial government. There isn't by any chance an election coming is there???