Friday November 1, 2019…

Friday November 1, 2019

Honorable John Yakabuski
Minister of Natural Resources & Forestry
99 Wellesley Street West
Whitney Block - 6th Floor - Room 6630
Toronto ON M7A 1W3

Re: Aggregate Resources Act Review
ERO Number 019-0556

Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA). The Town of Mono’s comments fit into 2 general categories: comments on the process surrounding the ARA amendments and comments on the substance of the proposed amendments.

As a preface to our detailed comments, the Town of Mono has an overarching concern regarding the impact that changes to the ARA may have on its role in reviewing aggregate licence and related planning applications and in ensuring that aggregate operations in the Town are undertaken in a way that safeguards the public interest. As in many other Ontario municipalities, aggregate extraction has been a sensitive issue for the Town. The Town is also concerned with the lack of clarity on how the proposed changes will impact “in-process” applications that are presently under consideration.

Process Concerns

1. As far as we are aware, the Town of Mono did not receive an invitation to the March 29th, Aggregate Summit, held in Caledon. We understand that the aggregate industry, indigenous stakeholders and some municipalities were invited. We further understand that OSSGA presented a report entitled, “Untangling Red Tape.” The Town was not made aware of this OSSGA Report, a key theme of which was to provide OMNRF with suggested measures to address what OSSGA considers as duplication and redundancy in the various processes related to aggregate applications and ongoing operations. We believe that the Ministry would have been better able to consider all perspectives, had the Town been provided with an opportunity to participate in this open house and respond to the OSSGA Report.

2. Secondly, we are concerned that the details of the proposed ARA changes were not provided well enough in advance of the commenting deadline to enable stakeholders to properly digest what is being proposed. Although a forty-five (45) day commenting period was provided for ERO 019-0556, starting on September 20, 2019, the specifics of the proposed ARA amendments were only released to the public on October 28, 2019. Therefore, the Town and other stakeholders were only given 7 days to review the specifics of the proposal. A week is not adequate for municipalities to properly digest the proposed changes to the ARA and regulations. It would have been helpful if the Ministry had provided a ‘red-line’ version of the ARA, with all proposed amendments, at the beginning of the commenting period.

Substantive Concerns

1. The Town of Mono does not support the proposal to prohibit municipal zoning By-laws regulating depth of extraction. From the Town’s perspective, extraction above the water table and extraction below the water table are distinct land uses with very different impacts and different implications for compatibility with adjacent land uses. Therefore, the Town believes that it is imperative that the distinction between above and below water table extraction be controlled in zoning by-laws as well as through licences under the ARA.

2. The Town of Mono is pleased to see that the Ministry has withdrawn its prior proposal to prohibit the Minister or LPAT requiring a haul route agreement as a condition of approval. As a rural road authority, the Town of Mono sees haul route agreements as an absolute necessity to prevent aggregate truck drivers from using inappropriate haul routes where, because of sight lines, geometry, topography or other issues, aggregate truck traffic could pose a danger to other members of the traveling public.

3. Despite this positive change, the Town remains concerned by the proposed s. 12(1.1) which would prohibit the Minister or LPAT having regard to “road degradation that may result from proposed truck traffic to and from the site”. For rural road authorities like the Town of Mono, aggregate operations can have a drastic impact on wear and tear on municipal roads. It has long been the Town’s policy that costs caused by private businesses operating in the Town should not fall on the shoulders of the Town’s taxpayers. This proposed amendment will lead to precisely this result. We therefore strongly urge that s. 12(1.1) be deleted from the final version of the ARA amendment.

4. With respect to improved access to aggregates in adjacent municipal road allowances through a simpler application process, provided that these extractions are limited to areas where they do not impact operations on existing roads, this measure is cautiously supported by the Town, but only on a case by case basis, subject to consultation and supporting evidence.

5. It is noted that aggregate fees are not under consideration as part of this (ERO 019-0556) posting. Since the proposed changes to ARA are meant to have a cost benefit implication for aggregate producers, it follows that a review of fees ought to form part of that equation, at the same time. There appears to be an imbalance between the need for aggregate in parts of the Province, yet the municipal costs borne by taxpayers as a result of extraction do not appear to be fully accounted in either the aggregate levy fee structure and/or through local municipal property taxation system.

6. With respect to aggregate extraction on Crown lands being exempt from municipal zoning, there are no known Crown lands in the Town of Mono; hence, the Town has no comment. However, it is noted that there may be other issues with any Crown lands within the NEP. Clarity with respect to public versus private operators extracting from Crown lands within the NEP should be provided.

7. With respect to providing greater flexibility through regulations to permit self-filing of routine site plan amendments, with the understanding that regulatory conditions are met:

a) Streamlining routine amendments may be acceptable, provided that the scope of what is considered “routine” is clearly defined and narrowly limited;

b) Greater clarification pertaining to changes to Ontario Regulation 244/97 is required;

c) Notice of minor site plan amendments should be provided in advance to surrounding landowners, within at least 100 metres radius, regardless of whether self-filing revisions to the ARA are implemented.

8. With respect to enhanced reporting on rehabilitation by requiring more context and detail, the Town of Mono believes that once aggregate materials are depleted by the operator, each section of the licensed area should be rehabilitated concurrently with subsequent phased extraction (i.e. progressive rehabilitation). As well, “open-ended” pit licenses ought to be eliminated in order to achieve reliable outcomes for pit rehabilitation and restoration of affected lands.

9. With respect to allowing some low-risk activities without a license, if regulatory conditions are followed, the Town of Mono has no immediate comment. An exception might be where licensed areas lie partly within or in proximity to a conservation authority regulated limit, or other sensitive environmental features or receptors.

On behalf of Council for the Town of Mono, I wish to thank you Minister Yakabuski and your Ministry staff, for this opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to the ARA.

We look forward to working with your Ministry on this initiative and others and appreciate the ongoing support and assistance of your staff at OMNRF and partner Ministries.

Town of Mono