Organizers of the newly-formed 'Concerned Citizens of Bottrel/Water Valley' group were with high hopes that around 30 people would attend their first of what is likely to be many community gatherings at Dartique Hall Jan. 27.
Organizers of the newly-formed 'Concerned Citizens of Bottrel/Water Valley' group were with high hopes that around 30 people would attend their first of what is likely to be many community gatherings at Dartique Hall Jan. 27.
Around 70 people filled the country hall to learn about the group in opposition of the proposed application by Standing Stone Gravel Ltd. to Rocky View County (RVC) to amend Bylaw C-4841, which would re-zone the use of the land (two quarter sections; totaling 320 acres) from 'ranch and farm district' to 'industrial district' for the purpose of aggregate extraction.
The intention of Edmonton-based Standing Stone Gravel is to build and operate an industrial gravel pit operation.
A letter to investors was verified by the Eagle to have been posted at standingstonedevelopments.com/-an-introduction.html; the letter states that the half-section of land holds $4M worth of old growth timber; 10 million tons of gravel; and an arrangement made by Standing Stone Developments to bring in JLG Gravel (out of Boyle, Alta.) as the contractor responsible for operations and for 'rehabilitation of the land once the gravel is harvested'.
The letter states that the land could then be used for a golf course or a home building site, following the 15-year period of aggregate extraction.
A legally binding petition has been launched by the resident group (who have registered as a non-profit) to address the application, imploring the county to hold a public hearing to 'investigate and address the impact of a proposed gravel pit by Standing Stone Gravel Ltd upon the environment and the community' prior to the approval of the permit application.'
The petition has garnered nearly 60 signatures so far and is available to view at the Bottrel General Store.
The petition maintains that the application is in direct contradiction with the vision of the county to 'minimize adverse impacts on agriculture operations and support agricultural diversity through land use policy'.
Residents were first made aware of the December 2014 permit application to the county through an open house held by Standing Stone Developments Jan. 21.
The information presented at the open house last week was not well received by any of the residents interviewed by the Eagle.
"There's no upside to this," said Lyle Wolfer, who purchased his 160-acre parcel in preparation for retirement some 15 years ago.
"(If this happens) the area will become unlivable...filled with heartache and sorrow."
The developer's application stated that 'representatives have met with several of the neighbours over several months and there are no known objections to the development to date and several neighbours have expressed interest and support for the development'.
The Eagle was unable to locate any Bottrel residents who knew of the application prior to one week ago or any residents who were in favour of the application whatsoever.
Bottrel residents, many who are small-scale cattle ranchers and farmers, are outraged by not only what they deem are threats to the entire ecological system in their quiet, rural community, but at the possibility of threatening their livelihood as small business owners.
Andy Strasser of Merlin Ranch Inc. is one of the infuriated residents taking a stand against what he feels will destroy his community.
Strasser, an environmental engineer by trade, purchased his farm two years ago to settle into the quiet of his lifelong dream to run a small, natural beef operation.
"I'm not against industry in any way," said Strasser, who stressed that he and his neighbours are not opposed to the five, small-scale gravel pit operations in a 10-mile radius of Bottrel.
"People out here respect the environment and love the country," said Strasser.
The Eagle met with Strasser, whose house would be situated 800 meters away from the proposed gravel pit and neighbour Vernita Hewitt, whose property would be 1,200 meters away.
The neighbours shared their plethora of concerns with the Eagle reiterated in a slide show presented at Dartique Hall.
Environmental and health concerns included: the absence of baseline environmental data; the impact this operation would have on increased noise pollution, on the Windchell/Jumping Pound/Little Red Deer River watershed (groundwater contamination; overall impact on natural springs and water supply for residents and animal life; changes to the hydrological system); the impact on the rich wildlife/birdlife/aquatic and plant life that reside in the area; the impact on human and animal health from the dust that the would result from the pit and the gravel trucks.
While residents told the Eagle that they have observed a multitude of species on their properties, including grizzly bears, the permit application said that 'small mammals and deer were observed on-site?(and) that the province has not recorded any sensitive wildlife species within 1-km of the site, however the barred owl has been inventoried within 1.6-km of the northern registration boundary. The barred owl is listed as species of special concern.'
Robert Kelham of Standing Stone Development
acknowledged that, 'prior to clearing, a qualified professional will inspect the site for presence of barred owl.'
Hank de Haan is a noise engineer who provided input for the resident group as a consultant.
He questioned the portion of the application that addressed 'cumulative noise could be significant, however with the distances, and treed buffer noise level off-site are expected to be low'.
"How can they assume this without any current baseline noise data?" he questioned.
Evelyne Nyairo of AB EnviroSolutions, a Cochrane-based environmental consulting company, assisted Strasser with putting together the presentation for concerned residents.
Nyairo was adamant that comprehensive assessments of the entire ecological system, as it currently exists, are in need to be completed before any comparative analysis could be executed.
According to the application, the developer contracted Matrix Solution Inc. to conduct a 'desktop hydrogeological assessment of (the land)...assessment objectives included a review of the site's local and regional geology and hydrogeology, depth to groundwater, flow direction and potential impacts of future aggregate operations on other groundwater and surface water allocations in the area'.
Their assessment recommended that several monitoring wells be installed throughout the site to monitor natural/seasonal fluctuations; complete single well hydraulic conductivity tests in some or all of the proposed monitoring wells; and the collection and submission of groundwater samples for lab analysis.
Safety concerns were highlighted by not only the air and noise pollution that the presentation indicated could be significant, but also by the notion of loaded gravel trucks barreling up and down the rural roads where over 30 school-aged children wait for their school buses.
Financial concerns such as the cost of long-term road maintenance were brought up (the application includes an examination of two routes for hauling gravel from the pit to Hwy 22 to be shipped to Calgary -the north route runs in Mountain View County and the south route runs in RVC with initial road repair, alignment and grading costs covered by the developer); and the impact on not only small farms, but on Bottrel General Store and the adjacent campground.
"They said at the open house there would be around 10 loaded gravel trucks each day," said Strasser, who pointed in his presentation that the application is for six days a week from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. for half the year and for 24/7 operations up to six months of the year.
Kelham stated that, "our estimate of the number of loaded trucks is (plus or minus) 20 trucks per day as a maximum."
Strasser questioned this estimation, based on an estimated $10M tons of gravel to be extracted over 15 years, which he deduced could result in 500,000 truckloads of gravel or 100-plus heavy haul trucks daily.
Kelham said that, "while we anticipate a much lower truck count, we will work with residents/businesses to arrive at mutually acceptable procedures."
Area RVC Coun. Bruce Kendall was unable to attend the meeting held at Dartique Hall, but advised the organizers that he would be in touch with residents and that at least two public open houses would be held prior to council addressing the application in June.
Those interested in learning more can contact Andy and Dana Strasser at 403-993-4841 or at [email protected].
