From my understanding Miller…

From my understanding Miller Group has not been playing by the rules and seems to have been ignoring them to a great deal. It is time for the MNRF to enforce the applicable rules and not grant any changes of use to this property.

You are here to protect our environment please do the right thing.

Following are key reasons why this Miller Paving Ltd proposal should not proceed.

1. The ARA must comply with the Oak Ridges Moraine Plan and Act which trumps all law, including Township bylaws, Durham Region Official Plan, etc.

2. As of November 15, 2001, new uses and expanded existing uses are prohibited under Oak Ridges Moraine Plan and Act. This pit has been operating often very minimally and some years not at all. Allowing this proposed Major Site Plan Application seems to be in contradiction of the law. A contractor’s yard was never permitted in the original license and cannot be introduced now.

3. The basic rules of the ORMCP are designed to ensure that alteration of land on the Oak Ridges Moraine is done to improve the environmental footprint not reduce it. MNRF please ensure that rehabilitation is done in this pit and do not allow it to be turned into a permanent industrial site.

4. The MNRF has an obligation to manage, require rehabilitation, minimize impact on the environment, respect the requirements of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and Act, and should continue to govern the Boyington Pit#3 on all aggregate resources and related activities now and in the future.

5. Every licensee should operate their site in accordance with the site plan upon which the license is based and at the end of its life, the pit should be rehabilitated as promised and the license surrendered.

6. MNRF do your job and bring this site into conformity with the license and the ORMCP. Non-compliance issues including:

removing concrete and other offsite material; removal of both of the contractor's outdoor storage yards; completing and staying up to date on progressive rehabilitation; cleaning up and putting berms and setbacks in place; discontinuing the practice of on-site crushing and importing asphalt; adhering to licensed hours of operation and discontinuing the practice of bringing in fill must be cleaned up. For over 10 years the MNRF has allowed these non-compliance issues to go unchecked. This operator has not only not complied with orders from the MNRF, they appear to be flouting the laws that govern aggregate operations.

7. The operator has an existing obligation to progressively rehabilitate the lands once aggregate extraction is complete. They should be held to that obligation. The MNRF should continue to manage and enforce the rehabilitation obligation that exists.

8. Non-Compliance issues should not be allowed to go without enforcement for over a decade. Please get these cleaned up before considering any Major Site Plan Amendments. Many non-compliance issues are existing on the site currently. The MNRF should enforce and require that these non-compliance issues are corrected before entertaining any Major Site Plan Amendment.

9. Miller has been asked by the MNRF in inspection reports to remove the storage yard every year for several years and yet it still exists. MNRF do your job and get this cleaned up before entertaining any Major Site Plan Application.

10. Over the past decade many audit reports have been produced by the MNRF. Audit reports produced by the MNRF staff have not been enforced. One of the most significant non-compliance findings is the existence of contractor’s yards which are both non-compliant with their license and are prohibited under ORMCP law. Miller has not removed the contractors’ yards as instructed, in fact, the yards have grown to include large vehicles and equipment that have nothing to do with an aggregate operation. The MNRF needs to do its job and bring this site back into conformity with the license before entertaining and Major Site Plan Amendment.

11. It’s not ok for the MNRF to skirt its obligations to enforce the correction of non-compliance issues under Miller Paving’s license and against the ORMCP law to allow Miller Paving to get out of their obligations to bring the site into compliance and be rewarded for it. Do not release these 36 hectares of land from the license.

12. By approving this site plan amendment the MNRF would be breaching the legislation drafted to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine, namely the Oak Ridges Moraine Act and Plan as well as the Aggregate Resources Act. As such this site plan amendment would be contrary to law.

13. Aggregate pits are intended to be an interim use of the land and when extraction is completed, they are to be returned to the previous use. This site plan amendment would establish a permanent industrial site, nowhere near the previous use of this agricultural land. Do not grant the application to surrender these lands from the license.

14. Failure to stop this site application will encourage 41 other pits in Uxbridge to do the same. This will result in ever greater unintended industrial intensity without any regulation or compliance monitoring.

15. This is a serious public, political issue. It could become an election issue if you proceed. This appears to be yet another example of this government through its agencies, attempting to shape policy and legislation to suit its own interests. We’ve seen this with the Greenbelt, wetlands, and protected lands. The MNRF’s job is to govern and enforce the license. Do your job and bring the site into compliance under the license and the law.