VICTORY IN VINELAND!
CONE Press Release


June 20, 2000

For Immediate Release


ESCARPMENT GROUP PRAISES ONTARIO CABINET'S
REJECTION OF WINERY RESORT NEAR VINELAND

The Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment (CONE) applauds the Ontario Cabinet's decision dated yesterday to turn down all of the Niagara Land Company's plans for a winery resort on its 90-acre farm property at the edge of the Niagara Escarpment forest near Vineland on the Niagara Peninsula.

CONE, an umbrella group representing 24 community and province-wide environmental organizations, has led the campaign against the proposal for 56 guest cottages and a culinary teaching centre that were to accompany a new winery and 120-seat restaurant. CONE has supported the winery and the restaurant since they are permitted in the Niagara Escarpment Plan as being directly related to grape-growing on the property. However, as CONE argued at a public hearing in August 1998, the teaching centre and guest cottages are urban-type land uses that properly belong in nearby urban areas so as to better protect the rural and natural landscapes of the Niagara Escarpment.

In a surprise move, Cabinet rejected not only the cottages and culinary centre -- land uses not yet permitted on this property -- but also the two land uses that the Niagara Escarpment Plan does permit here -- the winery and restaurant. The Niagara Land Company is free to go forward at any time to the Niagara Escarpment Commission with permit applications for the winery and restaurant, something it could have done three years ago. If the company had taken that route, it would likely have its winery and restaurant up and running by now.

"CONE sees Cabinet's decision as a major victory in the campaign we led to protect this part of the Niagara Escarpment," said CONE President Bruce Mackenzie. "The guest cottages were virtually equivalent to a residential subdivision, a land use not permitted in the Escarpment Protection Area zone within the Niagara Escarpment Plan. The sheer size of the cottage and culinary centre developments would have been far beyond what the Plan envisages as suitable land uses accessory to a grape-growing operation."

Mackenzie added: "One of our primary concerns had been that if Cabinet had approved the guest cottages -- which would have housed over 100 people year-round -- it would have set a disturbing precedent for resort development in agricultural areas all along the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara Falls to Tobermory, jeopardizing farmlands and adjacent natural areas. The Escarpment plan seeks to direct resort developments to urban areas and to the Escarpment Recreation Area zone. We're thrilled that the Cabinet has seen fit not to set a negative precedent."

The Niagara Escarpment Commission, the provincial agency charged with implementing the Niagara Escarpment Plan, had favoured the entire development, which the Niagara Land Company had brought forward as a proposed amendment to the Plan. At the 1998 public hearing, CONE, represented by lawyer Ramani Nadarajah of the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), was the only party objecting to parts of the proposal. In a November 1998 report, hearing officers Carl Dombek (chair of the Environmental Assessment and Appeal Board) and Pauline Browes (a vice-chair) recommended approval of the entire development. Cabinet has therefore totally rejected the pro-development positions of both the Commission and the hearing panel.

"While CONE has been puzzled by Cabinet's year-and-a-half delay in deciding on the winery resort, the result has been well worth the wait," Mackenzie said. "CONE has been concerned about other signs that perhaps the current government is not fully committed to upholding the Niagara Escarpment Plan. But this Cabinet decision gives us great hope that the government really wants to protect the Niagara Escarpment from inappropriate development."

CONE was founded in 1978 and includes province-wide interests such as the Bruce Trail Association, the Federation of Ontario Naturalists and the Sierra Club as well as Escarpment community groups such as the Preservation of Agricultural Lands Society, the Bruce Peninsula Environment Group and the Senior League of Collingwood. It has worked consistently to protect the Niagara Escarpment by monitoring compliance with the Niagara Escarpment Plan, conducting public education activities, and participating in government initiatives related to the Escarpment. In 1995, CONE received the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario's conservation award.

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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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