Residents of Calhoun, N.B., a small community roughly 30 kilometres east of Moncton, are calling on the provincial government to reverse a rezoning decision that will allow for the development of a rock quarry in the heart of their residential village.
Pierre Doucet first started voicing his opposition when his mother, who lives near the site, received notice that a large acreage of forest near her property had been rezoned for “intensive resource development” in May of 2021.
“There are already four quarries in this area. Thirty seconds down the road (from the proposed site) there are two on the same road. One minute down the highway, there are two more.” he said in an interview on Friday.
Though Doucet lives in nearby Memramcook, he said he often hears and feels the blasts from the existing quarries while he works from home.
“Imagine what people would feel in these homes right next to the quarry,” he added.
He said he and other residents have many concerns, like the impact of increased traffic on the small road leading to the site, the impact on property values as well as environmental consequences.
Seventeen-year-old Thomas Mackenzie’s grandparents live right across the street from the land, while he lives a few houses down the road.
He has signed two petitions opposing the change, and attended community discussions on the matter.
“I can’t express into words how it makes me feel that this was still let pass despite the overwhelming negative response to it,” he told Global News on Friday.
They and other residents have turned to Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton, who vehemently opposes the project, for help.
“It’s going against the planners who reviewed this,” she said on Friday, referring to a 2021 report where the Southeast Planning Review and Adjustment Committee recommended the Minister of Local Governance and Government Reform deny the rezoning request.
“The planner recommended against it. There have been hundreds of signatures, some of which I have presented in the Legislature, and countless letters and emails. Everyone’s been against it except (Local Governance Minister Daniel Allain.)”
Minister Allain did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Mackenzie is frustrated with what he feels is a lack of respect for his community.
“People come down this road and they don’t see it the same way I do. They see it not as a community, but a deposit of resources which is hard to grapple with.”
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