Water worries prompt Official Plan appeal in Melancthon

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Published on Friday, 24 April 2015 13:54

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Melancthon Township is appealing changes to its Official Plan, after the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing removed items intended as water protection safeguards.

In late March, the municipality learned of numerous changes made to its Official Plan by the ministry and has since filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

While many sections of the town’s plan were tweaked, the area tackling aggregate resource policies returned to Melancthon with numerous alterations.

“We knew going in we were going to have a bit of a fight for some of this stuff,” said Melancthon Mayor Darren White. “Every time we made suggestions our planner told us that wasn’t going to fly. The Provincial Policy Statement basically says aggregate is king.”

The appeal asks for the return of the line “the maximum depth of extraction shall be limited to 1.5 metres above the water table,” which was removed by the ministry.

As well, Melancthon is asking for the reinstatement of mapping that outlines areas of aquifer vulnerability and groundwater recharge zones. “We basically appealed the ones we thought were the most important,” White said.

The ministry declined to comment on the changes, as the issue is before the OMB.

“It would be inappropriate to comment specifically on this matter,” Ministry spokesperson Conrad Spezowka said in an email. “We cannot provide any additional information at this time.”

Although the town has filed an appeal, White said he is optimistic the issues won’t require a hearing at the OMB.

“We’re hoping we can use the time before an appeal starts to have some discussions with the ministry and have some of these things put back in,” White said.

“We discussed it at great length,” the mayor added. “We’re hopeful we don’t have to go through a lengthy and costly OMB hearing.”

Melancthon was working with the ministry to develop the Official Plan.

However, White said when the town filed the document the changes were made without consulting the municipality.

“We thought we had reached what we could all sort of live with,” White said. “They just decided they’re going to change a bunch of things and send it back ... which we’re not very happy about.”

While the town is challenging several changes of the Official Plan, the mayor noted the remaining document is in play.

“It doesn’t mean the entire Official Plan is in appeal,” White said. “Everything in ours is enacted now, except for those specific sections we’ve appealed.”

The issue of aggregate extraction in North Dufferin County gained international attention after the North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Task Force (NDACT), a grassroots movement, formed to fight The Highland Companies plan to mine 2,316 acres of land for limestone in Melancthon.

That plan was scrapped by Highland in the face of a lack of support from the public and provincial government.

By Bill Tremblay
Published in the Orangeville Banner, April 22, 2015

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