November 1,2019 Andrew…

November 1,2019
Andrew MacDonald,
Resource Development Section
Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
300 Water Street, 2 South
Peterborough, ON
K9J 3C7

Dear Sirs:

RE: County of Simcoe comments on the proposed amendments to the Aggregate Resources
Act- ERO number 019-0556

The County of Simcoe has appreciated the opportunity to provide comments on the proposed
amendments to the Aggregate Resources Act. The County is providing these written comments through
the Environmental Registry of Ontario number 019-0556.

The County is generally supportive of the proposed amendments to the Aggregate Resources Act,
however, we would like to take this opportunity to provide our comments on the issue of haul routes as it relates to the proposed amendments.

As per the Aggregate Resources Act, The Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation (TOARC") acts as
a Trustee working in the public interest for the MNRF. They are responsible for such things as
collection and disbursement of aggregate fees, rehabilitation of abandoned pits and quarries, and sites
where licenses or permits have been revoked, collection and publication of statistics, and other
information and training for those interested in the aggregate industry.

The Aggregate Resources Act proposed amendment that is most concerning to the County relates to
TOARC's responsibility to collect and disperse aggregate fees, which are most often used by receiving
municipalities, for upgrading and maintaining haul routes. As you know, this money is mandated to be
divided between the local and upper tier municipalities that host a pit or quarry. For the past several
decades, the County has been successful in coming to compensation agreements with operators to
supplement the amount paid under TOARC in order to more fairly contribute to the amount needed to
repair roads used as haul routes. It should be noted that the vast amount of the aggregate is delivered
to the City of Toronto, and the roads most often used are County roads. The ability to negotiate these
agreements arises from the power of the LPAT to compel agreements. The County of Simcoe is
concerned with this power being taken away by the proposed legislation. As well, in two recent cases,
an aggregate approval in a neighbouring municipality has called for the haul route to go over Simcoe
County roads. In a recent Divisional Court decision involving our County, the Court determined that the
LPAT could compel an agreement between the operator and Simcoe even when our County was not
the host. The County is concerned with this power being taken away by the proposed legislation.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed amendment. If you have any
questions or require further information with respect to this correspondence, please feel free to contact the undersigned.

Sincerely,
The Corporation of the County of Simcoe

(signed by Kristin D. Pechkovsky on behalf of)

David Parks, MCIP, RPP
Director of Planning, Economic Development and Transit
P: 705-726-9300x1004
david.parks@simcoe.ca