New Brunswick residents upset over potential new quarry

Residents in two New Brunswick communities are pleading with the provincial government not to rezone a residential and agricultural area to an industrial one in order for a new quarry to be built.

Families in Estey’s Bridge and Douglas, N.B. said they hope New Brunswick’s Minister of Environment and Local Government will strongly take recommendations against the rezoning into consideration.

On Tuesday, Regional Service Commission (RSC) 11 ruled not to recommend the rezoning to the minister. The decision now lies with Minister Serge Rouselle.

Estey’s Bridge resident Steven Porter said the new quarry would be built right behind his house. He said there are already 300 trucks per day from the current Mira Quarry nearby that create noise pollution, dust and toss dangerous chunks of rock onto the road. He said since the Mira Quarry opened several years ago his property value has already drastically declined.

“I lost 40 per cent of the value of my house last year which is quite a per cent, just from the one quarry once a second quarry moves in, what’s that going to do,” Porter said.

READ MORE: Estey’s Bridge residents fuming over rock quarry, worried about proposal for another

Porter said he hopes the minister will consider the RSC’s recommendation and not approve the rezoning request from Springhill Infrastructure Limited and not allow the new quarry to be built.  Porter also told Global News he would like to see the current quarry shut down.

Douglas resident Leigh Ferguson said the new quarry would harm the Christmas tree farm she and her family run and said she doesn’t want another gravel pit in the area.

“If this passes it’s going to be just the beginning of a real unfortunate outcome for everybody,” Ferguson said.

She said it could also mean more industrial development in the area and said because of the close proximity to the City of Fredericton that residents there could be more impacted than they realize.

Bev Schneider who also lives in Douglas said she has several concerns.

“I’m concerned about the water system, I’m concerned about wildlife habitat and of course we’re very concerned about people and the equity they have in the land,” Schneider said.

READ MORE: Nova Scotia approves plan for controversial quarry near Fall River

Other residents also told Global News a 9-lb. rock chunk was found outside Royal Road School Tuesday.

Porter said that’s extremely concerning, but not uncommon for rocks to fall off the trucks travelling to and from the current quarry. He said he can’t imagine what would happen if it hit a child outside the school.

Resident Paul O’Connell said rezoning would go against the vision of keeping the area residential.

“I think the recommendation of the Regional Service Commission is very clear and the minister should adhere to their recommendation,” O’Connell said.

Government response

In an e-mail statement from the Department of Environment and Local Government spokesperson, Marc André Chiasson, said the department understands there are concerns from residents in the area.  He said they had the opportunity to voice their concerns through the rezoning process.

“The rezoning process is managed through the Regional Service Commission and included opportunities for public consultations,” Chiasson said.  “The RSC has now made their recommendations to the Minister of Environment and Local Government for the rezoning decision and the Minister has until November 18, 2017 to make a decision.”

Chiasson said the views of both of the Local Service Districts of Estey’s Bridge and Douglas, the Regional Service Commission 11 and the local First Nations will be taken into consideration before a decision is made and said correspondence from the public will also be compiled.

Springhill Construction response

In an e-mailed statement from The Springhill Group of Companies vice-president Geoff Colter said the company attended the Regional Service Commission 11 Planning Review and Adjustment Committee meeting where the rezoning was being discussed.

“We are disappointed in the decision,” Colter said.

Colter said the company was hoping to address the Planning Review and Adjustment Committee to explain their position before a recommendation was decided on to give to the Minister of Environment and Local Government, but said there was no opportunity to speak.

He said the company heard a number of issues raised following the public hearing on June 13. Colter said they believe they can address those issues through “adequate mitigation measures”.

“We wanted to present some of the details of our mitigation measures with the Planning Review and Adjustment Committee members on Tuesday night and were not provided the opportunity,” Colter said. “We are hopeful that the Minister of Environment and Local Government fully weighs all of the facts when he reviews the file.”

He said the company wants to be “fully transparent” about their development plans and said their intention is to start the quarry near Claudie Road which will allow the existing trees to block the view of the site from Royal Road.

“Further, we intend to pile the overburden on the eastern, downhill side of the properties to create a berm. We will plant trees on the berm, which will further block the quarry from the view of the Royal Road,” Colter said.  “By siting the quarry in this manner, any dust produced during the manufacturing process will not be able to migrate toward the Royal Road, and the noise from the crushing operation will not be able to resonate toward the Royal Road.”

Colter said in his statement to Global News that the company plans on having a lengthy, paved access road to contain the track out from the site on their own property, and said they will not track out material on Royal Road.

“We will also diligently sweep and water our access road to further ensure that any track out is contained to our property,” Colter said.

He said there also won’t be any additional truck traffic on Royal Road.

“The size of the market for construction aggregate in the greater Fredericton area is relatively stable, and fluctuates slightly year over year depending on the number of housing starts, level of commercial construction activity and the amount and magnitude of local projects being completed by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure and municipal governments,” Colter said.

“We can say, with absolute certainty, that there are far fewer trucks leaving our driveway in Silverwood since
the quarry opened up on the Royal Road. An additional quarry development in this area will not increase
truck traffic, however, the same amount of truck traffic will originate from two different access roads.”

He told Global News that Springhill is expected to employ approximately 12 New Brunswickers at the proposed quarry.