ONE THING THE TOWN OF CALEDON and much of Dufferin have in common is suitability for the extraction of massive amounts of aggregates.

But while they have lost countless acres of good farmland to gravel pits, the demand from the construction industry seems insatiable and we’re forever hearing of new proposals to create ever larger pits.

The latest (and perhaps largest) project in Caledon is planned for a 291-acre site northwest of Melville village that was the subject of a public information meeting last week.

There, proponent Olympia Sand and Gravel Inc. is proposing to mine 200 acres of the site for 15 to 20 years, with most of the extraction coming between April and September.

No estimate was given of the number of huge trucks that would be coming and going, but the meeting was told the haul route to Toronto wouldn’t be the shortest possible (south through Melville) but rather north along Porterfield Rd. (Peel 136) to Dufferin 109 and thence south on Highway 10 and through Caledon Village.

We don’t know whether Dufferin County could prohibit such idiocy or even whether it could charge Olympia or Caledon for the damage to the already heavily travelled roadway that should long ago have been taken back by the Province as Highway 9.

But we do know that Dufferin County Council should oppose such a travesty coming to pass, in the strongest possible terms.

Editorial by the Orangeville Citizen

Published in the "Orangeville Citizen", July 4, 2013