Dear editor:
I have been following the progress in the application of Standing Stone Developments (SSD), which has been submitted to Rocky View County (RVC) for the redesignation of the zoning for the eastern half of Sec 35-28-5 W5 from ranch and farm to natural resource industrial (NRI).
SSD plans to have two gravel pits on this property, one for each quarter section.
If the re-zoning were approved, SSD would then apply to RVC for a permit and licence to operate a pair of very large gravel pits on this half section. The land is located at the northwestern edge of RVC, bordering Mountain View County (MVC) to the north.
SSD held an open house at Cremona Community Hall Jan. 21, which I attended. I was not impressed with the information provided, or lack thereof. The people staffing the open house were not knowledgeable and they didn’t even bother to have those fancy triangular sandwiches with the crusts cut off.
Some local residents formed a group called the Concerned Citizens of Bottrel-Water Valley to put a stop to this proposed gravel pit. I am a local resident who lives very close to this proposed gravel pit.
The group has held two information sessions at Dartique Hall, Jan. 27 and March 11. I attended the first info session, which was done in a much more professional manner than SSD’s open house.
The second info session included the attendance of a representative from SSD, who was there to field questions from the residents.
I was not able to attend this session, but I have read all the articles published in the papers afterwards. Apparently, SSD was extremely unprepared for this meeting ... big surprise. I get the feeling that SSD is just throwing a ‘Hail Mary’ attempt at this application with minimal effort having been put into it so far. SSD made some assurances to do more studies, but I see this as way too little, way too late. I don’t expect SSD to actually pull up their socks.
There are already a lot of gravel pits existing in the area and more pits are not required/desired. Even more importantly, the area that the proposed gravel pits are located is a populated rural area, which is very sensitive environmentally with forests, wet lands, abundant wildlife and rare plant and animal species existing in the area. These pits would ruin the area in so many ways and it’s just so 100 investors in Edmonton can rape and pillage our land all for the almighty dollar and then they’ll leave us the mess. A RVC councillor has stated that a review of the policies/bylaws for gravel pits may be required before any more approvals are given out. Be that as it may, my opinion is that RVC should just nip this in the bud right now.
To close, I was also disappointed with both RVC and MVC, as I had requested the total number and location of all the operating/non-operating gravel pits in each county and neither of the counties could answer my question. I think both of these counties need to pull up their socks concerning gravel pits. Maybe the reeves of each county might take notice.
And lastly, several related articles have appeared in the local papers, written both by reporters and letters to the editor from concerned area residents, of whom there are many.
I would like to commend Cochrane Eagle reporter Lindsay Seewalt for her excellent articles on this issue and also to a local resident, Kathy Fenton, who wrote a very succinct and intelligent article, which was published in the Feb. 12 issue of the Eagle.
Thank you both very much, and well done ladies.
Scott Rath, Water Valley
