Wilmot council faces criticism as Hallman Gravel Pit continues to dig up controversy

The mayor of Wilmot Township addressed resident concerns at Monday night's council meeting following a controversial about face of a Gravel Pit first denied and now accepted. 

The Hallman Gravel Pit has been a point of contention between residents and council for months.

Late last month despite a unanimous vote to reject it the township decided to allow construction of the pit to move forward.

Many residents have expressed disapproval of the decision and during Monday night's meeting two presenters brought their concerns with the pit to council.

Rodney Northey an environmental law lawyer with Gowling WLG brought up a number of concerns including the more than 50 homes located within one kilometre of the proposed pit.

He went on to address health impacts suggesting the dust generated from the gravel pit could cause breathing problems for nearby residents. 

The second presenter Samantha Lernout a local advocate with Citizens for Safe Ground Water directly addressed concerns over transparency criticizing Wilmot Council and Mayor Natasha Salonen.

“All five of you committed and pledged to respect and uphold council's unanimous vote to deny re-zoning the property and continue to defend council's decision at the O.L.T. Mayor Salonen you, broke your promise to be transparent and to hear the voices of the people.” 

Lernout went on to point out a lack of public delegation opportunities at Monday's meeting. 

“Why didn't you tell your concerned constituents about this until the last possible minute and why not accommodate the people to speak to you tonight regarding your decision.” 

Mayor Salonen attempted to address the issue and said there's a lot of misinformation surrounding the decision to move forward with the pit.

She explained the decision was put into the hands of the Ontario Land Tribunal after the developer appealed council's previous decision to deny it's construction. 

According to Salonen this left council with only two options.

“The first option was fighting at the O.L.T which presented a minuscule chance of winning or option two, as we did, to advise our solicitor to enter into a settlement with the applicant which included the best deal for Wilmot residents pending approval from the O.L.T” 

Mayor Salonen added that this isn't the best option by a long shot but residents need to share their concerns with Doug Ford and the provincial government as the deciding factor now resides with them.