August 11, 2000

For Immediate Release


MILTON TO EXPAND FURTHER ONTO ESCARPMENT LANDS
But not as far as some developers had hoped

The Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment (CONE) has expressed concern with yesterday's decision of the Consolidated Hearings Board which will pave the way for the expansion of the Milton urban area onto Escarpment lands.

The decision comes after several weeks of hearings which began in February of this year and concluded in the middle of April. Two landowners, Central Milton Holdings and Joseph Cucuruto, had applied to either remove their lands from the Niagara Escarpment Plan Area completely or, failing that, to redesignate them as Escarpment Urban Area. A third landowner, Jannock Limited, withdrew their application at the start of the hearing and will have their own separate hearing before the Board in September. All of the lands in question lie at the base of the Escarpment west of Milton and south of Kelso Conservation Area.

In their decision, the Board denied the application of Mr. Cucuruto, but left the door open for Central Milton Holdings to change the designation of their lands to allow for urban expansion, pending preparation and approval of a detailed concept plan for the site. Both landowners were denied permission to pull their lands out of the Niagara Escarpment Plan Area completely.

The full environmental impacts of opening up the Central Milton Holdings lands for development will not be known until they produce a detailed concept plan for the Board's consideration. They have one year to do so. In their decision, the Board lists several guidelines which the plan must meet and seems to preclude the development of a typical subdivision.

In their report, the Board states that it "does not find on the evidence that an ordinary subdivision would meet the objectives of the NEP and NEPDA."

"We applaud the Board's decision to limit the expansion of Milton by maintaining the Escarpment Protection Area designation on Mr. Cucuruto's property," commented CONE Manager Jason Thorne, "But the end result of the overall decision is that Milton's urban area will be allowed to encroach a little further on to the Escarpment and that is cause for concern. This despite the fact that the need for Milton's urban area to expand westward toward and onto the Escarpment has not been established."

CONE agreed with the position of the Niagara Escarpment Commission in arguing that all of the subject lands are essential to maintaining the open landscape character of the area and providing a buffer for the sensitive natural areas on the Escarpment face itself.

"The current Plan designations provide the minimum buffer needed to protect the landforms and the biodiversity of the Escarpment environment," states Thorne, "We simply can't afford compromise solutions which further nibble away at the edges."

CONE, founded in 1978, is an umbrella group of 24 environmental organizations and community groups, including the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, the Sierra Club of Canada - Eastern Canada Chapter, the Bruce Peninsula Environment Group, the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy, the Hamilton Naturalists' Club, the Halton-North Peel Field Naturalists, Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources (POWER), and the Beaver Valley Heritage Society. CONE monitors development up and down the Niagara Escarpment and is a strong supporter of the provisions of the Niagara Escarpment Plan, the Cabinet-approved land use plan that controls development on the Escarpment.

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Background information on this issue and a
complete copy of the Board's decision is available
on the CONE web site at www.interlog.com/~cone

For further information:
Jason Thorne, Manager, CONE
517 College Street, Suite 237
Toronto, ON
M6G 4A2
Phone: 416-960-2008
Fax: 416-960-0020
Cell: 416-892-4861
E-mail: cone@interlog.com
Web: www.interlog.com

This letter serves as the position of the Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment on the above-noted Niagara Escarpment Plan Amendment.


1. INTRODUCTION


The Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment (CONE) was founded in 1978. It is a coalition of 27 environmental and community groups on the Escarpment and across the province. CONE has worked consistently for the protection of the Escarpment and its many values to Ontario society. CONE was involved in the preparation of the Niagara Escarpment Plan in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and in the first five-year review of the Plan in the early 1990s. CONE's activities include monitoring development up and down the Escarpment, educational initiatives to heighten public understanding and appreciation of the Escarpment, participation in government-led studies on Escarpment issues, and regular monitoring of Niagara Escarpment Commission meetings.

Our involvement in matters relating to aggregate extraction on the Niagara Escarpment extends back to our founding 23 years ago. For example, after Cabinet approval of the 1994 Niagara Escarpment Plan, CONE was asked to serve on the aggregate advisory committee that flowed from the 18-month moratorium in the 1994 Plan on processing of new aggregate applications.


2. THE PROPOSED PLAN AMENDMENT


2.1 Background Materials
Earlier this year, Dufferin Aggregates invited CONE to attend a briefing about the proposed expansion of their Milton Quarry. Three CONE representatives accepted Dufferin's offer and we were briefed at an on-site meeting at the Milton Quarry on February 12, 2001. We appreciate the time that Dufferin Aggregates and its consultants provided for that meeting and the briefing materials (Project Summary, January 2001) that the company provided to us. We have also contacted Dufferin Aggregates more recently to clarify some issues related to natural features on the site of the proposed expansion.

In addition, CONE has reviewed the NEC's initial staff report dated February 15, 2001. We wish to correct one inaccuracy in that report. At the top of page 12, it is stated that American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a nationally and provincial threatened species. In fact, American ginseng's status was revised in the year 2000 by the federal government's Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). COSEWIC "up-listed" American ginseng from threatened to endangered. The provincial government's Committee on the Status of Species-at-Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) is still reviewing the new COSEWIC status with a view to regulating American ginseng under the provincial Endangered Species Act.

There appears to be a discrepancy between the NEC initial staff report and Dufferin Aggregates Project Summary regarding habitat of species at risk. (1) On pages 11-12 of the NEC staff report, it is noted that the Halton Forest North Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI) is habitat to a number of species at risk, which are listed in the report (American ginseng, Hart's-tongue fern, green violet, red-headed woodpecker, red-shouldered hawk, hooded warbler). A 0.95-hectare portion of this ANSI is within the boundaries of the proposed expansion (although it is outside the Niagara Escarpment Plan Area). Dufferin Aggregates staff have identified this area as deciduous forest; the habitat of American ginseng, to give one example, is deciduous forest. (2) Dufferin Aggregates' Project Summary states, on page 5, that "none of these features [which includes the ANSI forest] are habitat for vulnerable, threatened or endangered species." Clearly, this matter needs to be resolved with a clarification incorporated into the NEC's summary report on this Plan Amendment.

2.2 CONE's Position on the Plan Amendment
CONE is fully cognizant of the fact that the proposal is for an expansion of an existing operation, that it will use existing haul routes, and that it is located close to proposed markets in the "Golden Horseshoe." These are amongst the arguments advanced by Dufferin Aggregates in support of the amendment. However, CONE has re-confirmed, through discussion about the Dufferin Aggregates proposal at a recent meeting of the CONE Board of Directors, its long-standing position on aggregate extraction within the Niagara Escarpment Plan Area.

CONE's position on the Dufferin Aggregates proposed expansion, and for any other proposed new or expanded aggregate operation on the Niagara Escarpment, is as follows:

The Niagara Escarpment Plan Area must not serve as a long-term source of aggregates. New or expanded aggregate operations should not be permitted within the Plan Area unless there is an indisputably proven need for the aggregate that cannot be met from sources outside the Plan Area.

CONE takes the position that Dufferin Aggregates has not proven indisputably that there is a need for this expansion that cannot be met, either by Dufferin Aggregates or by another aggregate operator, outside the Plan Area. While the Niagara Escarpment Plan allows an application to be made to amend the Escarpment Rural Area designation to Mineral Resource Extraction Area, such an amendment is not granted as of right.

2.3 Provisions to Protect Natural Features if the Amendment is to be Approved
While CONE opposes the amendment, as noted above, we believe it is our duty to make recommendations in the event that Cabinet proposes to approve the amendment. Our recommendations are as follows:

  1. The 0.96-hectare portion of the Halton Forest North ANSI must not be permitted to be destroyed through quarrying or any activities ancillary to quarrying. Not only is this an ANSI, but it is a Provincially Significant ANSI identified and described in detail by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) in its Ecological Survey of the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve (Riley, Jalava & Varga, 1996, pp. 220-225). It is CONE's position that Dufferin Aggregates is incorrect in stating, on page 9 of its Project Summary, that "the application implements the Provincial Policy Statement." The Natural Heritage Policies in section 2.3 of the PPS state that "development and site alteration may be permitted in ... significant areas of natural and scientific interest if it has been demonstrated that there will be no negative impacts on the natural features or the ecological functions for which the area is identified." CONE is of the view that quarrying this 0.96 hectare portion of the ANSI constitutes a highly negative impact on the features and functions of this portion of the Halton Forest North ANSI.

    Also referring to the PPS, the Natural Heritage Policies call for development and site alteration to be permitted in "adjacent lands" to significant ANSIs only if it has been demonstrated that there will be no negative impacts on the natural features or on the ecological functions for which the areas is identified. MNR's Natural Heritage Reference Manual for Policy 2.3 of the Provincial Policy Statement recommends that for provincially significant ANSIs, the width of "adjacent lands" be 50 metres (page 33). CONE takes the position that not only must the ANSI itself not be quarried, but that at a minimum, this 50-metre buffer area with no aggregate extraction must be built into Dufferin Aggregates' quarrying plans.

  2. Dufferin Aggregates is, in CONE's view, indisputably incorrect in stating that "the application implements the Provincial Policy Statement," inasmuch as the amendment, if approved, would destroy two provincially significant wetlands (PSWs) totalling 1.37 hectares. Section 2.3 of the PPS states that "Development and site alteration will not be permitted [emphasis added] in significant wetlands south and east of the Canadian Shield ..." This is a higher standard than the PPS provides for regarding provincially significant ANSIs above. Furthermore, MNR's Natural Heritage Reference Manual recommends that for PSWs, "adjacent lands" (see provisions noted above) be 120 metres in width (page 10). CONE takes the position that not only must the two wetlands themselves not be quarried, but that at a minimum, this 120-metre buffer area with no aggregate extraction must be built into Dufferin Aggregates' quarrying plans. We are aware of the location of the two PSWs and realize that protecting them and their adjacent lands would significantly reduce the extraction area for the proposed Phase 3 East Extension.

We trust that CONE's position on the proposed amendment is clear. Please contact the undersigned if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

ORIGINAL SIGNED

Jason Thorne
Executive Director

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