The Township is aware of the recent activity on the site located behind Wheeler Court in Rockwood and understand that residents may have questions.
The site is referred to as the Bernardi Gravel Pit and it was approved and licensed in 1975 by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). License number 5703 is held by 1253252 Ontario Limited and has a licensed area of 33.5 hectares and maximum annual extraction limit of 30,000 tonnes. The pit was approved in 1975, therefore no further approvals are required. It appears there has been no activity in several years on the site, however, the licensee can extract from the remaining licenced area consistent with their site plans, the provincial standards and their licence conditions under their current licence and MNR enforces the license requirements. This gravel pit uses mechanical extraction, meaning no blasting and all work must be at least 1 metre above the water table. The municipal office has a copy of the pit drawings that may be viewed by residents. An electronic version of the site drawings can be found below.
In 2013, the School Board (Harris Mill School) purchased some of the land that was licensed. At that time, the license, which originally allowed for extraction on the whole property, was amended and reduced the active gravel extraction area to 3.2 ha (7 acres).
At the completion of operations, the Ministry may accept the surrender of the license once rehabilitation has been completed in accordance with the Aggregate Resources Act, the regulations, the approved site plan and the conditions of the licence.
There is no mechanism in the Aggregate Resources Act to review existing aggregate licenses based on changes in land use surrounding the licensed boundary.
If you have questions or concerns about this pit, you can contact your MPP (Ted Arnott) at 519-787-5247 or Tammy Verhaeghe, MNR Guelph District Manager at (519) 826-4931, tammy.verhaeghe@ontario.ca.
Site Plan Documents
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