Opponents of Barbers Lake Gravel Pit Pack Ag Hall in McDonalds Corners

Jeff Green | Sep 17, 2025

Forty Thousand Tourists stream through McDonalds Corners every year, heading towards nearby Wheeler’s Pancake house on the Highland line. To get there, they pass near Barber’s Lake, which is set back from the road. Also, although they are mostly hidden from view as well, there are four gravel pits along that road, which use the road to transport gravel. If those pits were operating at full capacity, 690,000 tonnes (1 tonne = 1,000 kilograms)  of gravel would be trucked over the Highland Line each year.

The proposal before Lanark Highlands Council, which was the subject of a formal Public Meeting at the Agricultural Hall in McDonald’s Corners on Thursday, September 11, is for a 5^th pit, situated in between the Highlands Line, Barber’s Lake, and the Wheeler sugar bush.

Thomas Cavanagh Construction Limited is proposing to set up an operation with two “extraction areas” with a capacity to mine, crush and transport up to 500,000 tonnes of gravel each year. The proposal has been altered since originally submitted to the township, Lanark County, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF). Originally, they were planning to extract and haul up to 1 million tonnes of gravel each year. It has also been altered to limit trucking of gravel to the hours of 7am to 7pm from 24 hours a day, and to not haul during half load season. The areas of extraction have also been decreased as have some of the setbacks to Barber’s Lake and to a woodland property that is also owned by Cavanagh.

Before hearing from the public, Forbes Symon, the township’s contract planner, outlined key elements to a 28-page background document he has prepared for council on the matter. He pointed out to the public that the matters before council are Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendment applications, and that any issues regarding the details of the proposes operation and a site plan, are being handled through a different process under the jurisdiction of the MNRF.

In his report, Symon’s pointed out that, according to the Provincial Policy and Planning Statement  (PPPS) which underpins all Official Plans and Zoning bylaws in Ontario, “mineral aggregate resource” extraction is prioritised, and there is a focus is on restricting land uses that get in the way of that activity.

The onus is on the opponents, not Cavanagh Construction, to demonstrate that it is in “the greater long-term public interest” to prioritise a land use other than extracting mineral resources.

What this means, according o Symon’s report, is that “the question of the importance of the existing waterfront community land uses and Wheeler’s Pancake House in terms of the ‘long term public interest’ verses that of the proposed aggregate operation is central to Council’s decision on this matter.

Symon also said that as part of its decision-making regarding the amendment, Lanark Highlands Council has a duty to consult and has provided notice and an opportunity to comment to both the Algonquins of Ontario and the Metis of Ontario. Chief Doreen Davis of the Shabot Obaadjiwan was in attendance at the meeting.

After Symon spoke, a planner working for Cavanagh made a presentation, outlining the changes made by Cavanagh over the two years since the proposal was first submitted in response to some of the comments and concerns from the township, the public, the township’s planner, and the MNRF.

Chief Davis addressed the meeting after that, representing the Shabot Obaadjiwan, and the Snimikobe, who also have members living in the Mississippi River watershed, which Barber Lake feeds via the Long Sault Creek.

After speaking in general terms about the different perspective that the Shabot Obaadjiwan and other indigenous nations have towards the land than the extraction model that has taken hold over generations, she indicated her concern with any proposed land use that is “undertaken for profit alone”

She indicated that the Shabot Obaadjiwan do not support the proposal in its current form in her parting words.

“This is the way of the Shabot Obaadjiwan, to walk gently, to take only what is needed, to honour our elders, to protect the land and our people, to build relationships that respect creation. These teachings are not only for us. They are for all those who wish to live in balance with the earth.”

 She said these words were spoken in the past, but we ignored.

“My hope is that by sharing them tonight, they will be heard with open hearts, and that we will not allow history to repeat itself. Migwetch.”

What followed for the rest of the 2 ½ hour meeting, were a series of statements by members of the public, some of them residents of Barber’s Lake and nearby community, and many of them members of Friends of Lanark Highlands. The group has been researching various aspects of the proposal, and the statements avoided repetition, for the most part.

They were also focussed on providing council with reasons to say no to the proposed amendments. One of the statements was by Tricia Jones,  who said she has “taken the time to better understand the scale and impact of aggregate extraction in the township.”

She found there are 51 active pits in the township, and that the township already produces 8% of the gravel used in Ontario each year, with 0.0035% of the provincial population. She also said that, based on the payments to the township for tonnage, only 1.5 million tonnes are extracted in the township, when there are licences for 12.3 million tonnes.

“If the existing pits aren’t operating at capacity, issuing more licenses or bylaw amendments is unjustified”.

Carolee Mason, who is the Communications Director for Friends of Lanark Highlands and a Barber Lake residents as well, talked about the prevalence of radon in the local vicinity, and how scientific research has determined that radon is capable of binding with the fine particulate (PM2.5) that is produced in gravel extraction.

“Usually radon disperses in open air and is only of concern in an enclosed space. Those invisible radon particles are drawn to the heavier PM2.5 particles, and they combine, creating radioactive aerosols that can be inhaled. This radon dust naturally decays changing into radioactive plutonium and then radioactive lead as part of the uranium decay chain,” she said.

Other concerns were raised about the fact that Cavanagh plans to excavate below the water table, as close as 100 metres from Barbers Lake.

While Cavanagh says that the 100 metre setback exceeds the 30 metre setback called for the in the Lanark Highlands Official Plan, one of the members of the public pointed out that the township of Muskoka has a 2,000 metre setback for resource extraction in their official plan, a provision that was challenged but was upheld in a recent Ontario Land Tribunal decision.

The potential impact of below water table extraction on Barbers Lake, was also raised as a concern, and the potential impact to the water that flows into Long Sault Creek was also raised. Long Sault Creek is a rare Brook Trout spawning ground, and was the site of a spawning be rehabilitation project in 2016, sponsored by Watersheds Canada.

Time Wheeler spoke near the end of the meeting, and talked about the potential impacts of the proposal on Wheeler’s pancake house and museum, and the overall syrup operation. He said that the last time a pit was proposed, trucking was limited to Monday to Friday, a nod to the year weekend tourist business at Wheelers, but Cavanagh is proposing 7 days a week. He also said that the other pit restricts crushing to off peak times at Wheelers, outside of both syrup season and the summer tourism season, while Cavanagh is not proposing any seasonal limitations.

He also said that is concerned that with 4 gravel operations already located close to Wheelers, this new, larger one, “will be the straw that breaks the camels back.”

Forbes Symon requested that the presenters at the meeting follow up with written submissions to the township within a couple of weeks to make sure the information is included in all the documentation being collected by the township.

He said he expects to be submitting a report and a recommended action to council sometime in October. Lanark Highlands Council members listened to all of the submissions in the meeting, with some of them taking notes.

Once the Symon’s report and recommendation is presented to them, they will be a in a position to grant of deny the application.

If they turn it down, Cavanagh can appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal. If they accept it, the opponents will not have the right of appeal, but there is an exception for First Nations.

It was also pointed out at the meeting, that the MNRF still has 9 objections to the site plan and detailed work plan they have received from Cavanagh as part of their approval process. The Cavanagh planner said that it is anticipated that process will end up being settled by the Ontario Land Tribunal.