It's unanimous! Maple Ridge Council says NO WAY to gravel mine : WC Mediawire

It's unanimous! Maple Ridge Council says NO WAY to zoning for gravel mine and heavy industry next to Golden Ears Park and Blue Mountain.

"What a tremendous example of local democracy in action!" said Joe Foy, a Western Canada Wilderness Committee director. Foy was referring to the unanimous decision by Maple Ridge Council last night to vote no to the proposed zoning of lands next to Golden Ears Park and Blue Mountain to Heavy Industrial, known as M5 zoning.

M5 zoning would have allowed a rock crushing operation, asphalt plant, cement production facility and a gravel mine to be located in the headwaters of Kanaka Creek, which is a salmon stream, only several kilometres from the beaches and picnic grounds of Golden Ears Provincial Park and the hiking trails of Blue Mountain.

Last week about 240 people crammed into Maple Ridge Council Chambers to attend the Public Hearing on the zoning application. Each speaker was given five minutes to speak to Mayor and Council. The presentations went on until 11:30pm. Every speaker was against zoning the land to Heavy Industrial ? citing reasons such as environmental impacts to Golden Ears Park, Blue Mountain and Kanaka Creek. Others listed economic concerns such as increased costs to upkeep area roads and costs associated with legal bills should the municipality have to fight off unwanted toxic industries attracted by the M5 zoning. Such may become the case in Richmond, where a private company is proposing to import toxic soils to its own private dumpsite.

Not a single speaker came out in favour of the M5 zoning.

"When this proposal first came before council, only Councilor Kathy Morse spoke against it," said Foy. "But after the people had a chance to say their piece at the Public Hearing, the Mayor and all the councilors came out against Heavy Industrial Zoning for this area next to Golden Ears and Blue Mountain. What a great example of local government listening to and working with local citizens. I tip my hat to those Maple Ridge politicians," said Foy.

At last night's Council meeting councilors agreed that what is needed now is a careful assessment of all industrial lands in Maple Ridge and a rethinking of the land use strategy that puts gravel mines and industry next to park lands.

"We would like to be part of that process," explained Foy. "We would like to see the Kanaka Creek watershed retain its rural character and we'd like to see Blue Mountain gain full Provincial Park status so it doesn't get wrecked by clearcut logging and gravel mining. We recognize that Maple Ridge needs industrial lands -- but we believe those lands would best be sited near the rail road tracks, Fraser River docks and Lougheed Highway in the southern portion of the municipality," said Foy.

For more information contact
Joe Foy (604) 683-8220 Cell (604) 880-2580

03/30/2002
Asphalt plan killed

By Karin Mark
Maple Ridge is re-thinking its plans for industrial development at the
north end of 256 Street.

Tuesday night, Maple Ridge council voted to include the north Webster's
Corners area – designated for industrial activity 20 years ago – in an
upcoming community-wide review of industrial and commercial property.

In doing so, council killed its own proposal to rezone 8.2 hectares of
municipal property in the 13600-block of 256 Street to the heavy
industrial M-5 zone, aimed to allow a private operator (Imperial Paving)
to mine gravel, process it and open up asphalt and concrete plants.

It also effectively deflates Maple Ridge's gravel strategy, which called for
the municipality to maximize gravel removal from the aggregate-rich
Webster's Corners area within an annual limit of 300,000 cubic metres.

"We're just getting ahead of ourselves here," Coun. Craig Speirs said
Tuesday night.

The M-5 plans were strongly opposed at the Mar. 19 public hearing,
during which residents, environmental groups and other stakeholders
voiced concerns about the potential impact on the stream and wetland
located at the south end of the site, as well as nearby Golden Ears Park,
homes and the Kanaka Creek watershed.

Coun. Candace Gordon said Tuesday some of the assumptions that
initially led council to plan that area for industrial activity don't exist
anymore.

According to municipal staff, the north end of 256 Street was first
identified for industrial use in Maple Ridge's 1981 Official Community Plan.
The area was known to have gravel resources and was near the north
Fraser freeway that was planned by the province at the time and later
dropped.

"I really think we need to have a good look at our industrial land base
and where it's more appropriate for in this community," Gordon said. "I'm
not sure it (Webster's Corners) will ever be, considering the conditions
have changed, ready for industrial development."

Several councillors voiced concern over Maple Ridge's lack of industrial
land. Industrial and commercial development produces revenue for
municipalities, while residential development is subsidized.

Coun. Jon Harris said the council's decision is a significant change to the
municipality's plan to increase the ratio of industrial land to residential.
"It's key we very quickly go to that (review) process and deal with it."

Tuesday night's vote was a complete flip-flop for councillors Speirs,
Isaac, King, Harris and Gordon, who had initially spoken and voted in
favour of the proposal. Morse had been opposed the heavy industrial
M-5 designation from the start.

Mayor Al Hogarth didn't indicate his vote Tuesday night. However, he did
point out to council that it had unanimously approved the gravel
strategy.

He wouldn't say Wednesday how he had intended to vote, but did say
he was disappointed with himself for allowing the discussion to become
political rather than be an open dialogue of the issues.

"It was quite obvious it was political, at this point in time. That's all I
want to say."

Hogarth also said council will have to deal with the financial implications
of its decision Tuesday night.

This year's budget includes about $250,000 in gravel revenue – about
$150,000 of that from the proposed municipal pit that was aimed to start
up in June. A full-year's royalties from the pit had been pegged at
$280,000, and the municipality had also expected to save $60,000 each
year in gravel purchases and $200,000 per year in asphalt purchases,
once the asphalt plant started up in a couple of years.

"We're going to have to take a close look at the budget and see whether
there is enough of a cushion to handle that," Hogarth said.

General manager of corporate and financial services Paul Gill said he
expects council to meet in the next few weeks to review the financial
plan. While some of the gravel revenue is gone, he said that could be
offset by unexpected increases in other areas.

Mixed reaction to decision

Applause rang out in the Maple Ridge council chambers Tuesday when
council defeated its plans for heavy industrial development in Webster's
Corners.

Geoff Clayton of the Alouette River Management Society said the
organization – which had joined the lobby against the M-5 zone – had
always questioned the appropriateness of industrial development at the
north end of 256 Street.

"We were shocked to find our traditional environmental support on
council had gone into this in support of it," Clayton said.

ARMS is in favour of a review of industrial and commercial property in the
municipality, he said.

Acknowledging the need for such land, he said some areas are more
appropriate for such uses than others. For example, he suggested
revisiting the former gravel pits in Albion as potential industrial sites. As
well, areas near the CP Rail and Lougheed Highway corridor, such as
River Road, make sense for industrial development.

Not everyone is happy about the potential change to Webster's Corners.

The owners of the Owens property on 128 Avenue were getting ready to
submit a gravel proposal for about 25 acres of land, confirmed consultant
Slade Dyer.

"I literally have it completed and sitting by the corner of my drafting
table," he said. "Now, we're kind of sitting in the wings, waiting for
something to happen."

While council's decision puts the Owens plan on hold, Dyer said it has
fewer effects on another of his clients in the area, the Maple Ridge
Business and Industry Park.

That site already has a temporary industrial use permit that allows for
processing of the gravel that is being extracted to grade the site, he
said.

But Dyer noted that the decision means that the municipality's work in
securing a private partner for its M-5 project was a wasted effort, as
were the bid packages submitted by several companies.