Cavanagh Gravel Pit

Cathie Green | May 31, 2023

The public consultation period for Cavanagh’s application for a massive gravel pit on the Highland Line is only open until June 5.

I strenuously object to Cavanagh’s application for this new gravel pit, below the water table and only 30 metres from Barbers Lake.

Cavanagh’s application does not respect the 150-meter setback from a Waterfront Community required under Lanark Highlands’ Official Plan. There are twelve homes on this small, spring-fed lake. Its outlet, the Long Sault Creek, is the only cold-water creek in Lanark County with a native population of brook trout.

People ask why I care so much about this when I don’t live on Barbers Lake. All rural residents in gravel-rich Eastern Ontario need to think outside of their personal interests on this one. If a corporation can mine gravel and encroach on people's homes at Barbers Lake, what keeps them from doing it where you live?

What's next, Dalhousie Lake? Christie Lake? Mississippi Lake? This is not just somebody else's problem. If you wait until this is on your own doorstep, it is going to be too late for all of us, too late for rural tourism.

Gravel pits don’t pay a commercial property tax; they get a preferential tax rate, like farms. The township will be paid 13 cents per tonne of material excavated. If you live anywhere on the haul route that could see a truck going past every minute, your peace and quiet will be out the window. And they want a 24/7 operation!

The public only has until June 5 to send letters to Cavanagh & the Aggregate Resources Branch of Ontario objecting to this application.

After that date, the public consultation period closes. Clear and simple instructions for letters are at this website: friendsoflanarkhighlands.org.

Please join me in standing up for our right to the quiet enjoyment of our peaceful, rural homes.

Cathie Green