Council for the Rural Municipality of Ritchot has said 'no' to Nelson River Construction.
Nelson River Construction is undertaking the task of rebuilding Highway 75 south of Ste. Agathe. As part of this project, President Gord Lee told Ritchot Council last week that it will need to extract 80,000 cubic metres of clay material in order to reconstruct the shoulder embankments between Ste. Agathe and Provincial Road 205.
To accommodate the work, Nelson River Construction had hoped to purchase land south of Ste. Agathe and then be approved for a Conditional Use. The Conditional Use would allow a natural resource development in an Agricultural Limited zone.
Lee told Council that if approved, they would do the work this fall, with completion next spring. He says they would extract between 1,200 and 2,000 cubic metres per day, which works out to between 100 and 200 truckloads daily. At that rate, the work would take between 40 and 50 days.
"Ultimately we've got to find this material from some place within the RM," says Lee. "It just happened that this particular property was available and thought we'd exercise the opportunity to see if we could get permission to use it."
Once the work would be completed, Lee says the site would be shaped, remediated and re-graded so that the contours of the land fit naturally with the surroundings. They would also bring the condition of the service road back to what it was prior to the beginning of the extraction process. He notes they do not want to degrade property value and the plan would likely see them resell the property once finished.
Lee says once complete, the land could be used as a manmade lake and notes this work should increase the value of the property.
Several neighbours voiced opposition at the public hearing. Concerns ranged from noise pollution and safety to the impact on property values and the fact that a lake would be built.
Councilor Shane Pelletier questioned how creating a lake on agricultural land could improve its value.
Mayor Chris Ewen added, "we're losing an asset here," referring to the loss of Ag land.
Ewen says he does not see how this could benefit either Ritchot or future landowners.
Also speaking in opposition, Councilor Jason Bodnarchuk says he is not in favour of 200 trucks a day driving off that site.
Lee told Council that they have requested the province make land available for them to use instead. However, he says so far this wish has not been granted.
"The fact that they won't let (Nelson River) pull it out of the right-of-way boggles my mind," adds Pelletier, noting there is plenty of dirt there.
Council was unanimous in rejecting the application.
"This was a tough one for us as Council," adds Ewen. "We're hoping they can find an alternate solution, because this is something that needs to happen."
However, he says taking five acres of farmland and turning it into a lake that is 16 feet deep would likely devalue the property as there is not much that can be done with that space afterwards.
Ewen says he is currently lobbying the province to work with Nelson River Construction and come up with an alternate solution for where to extract the clay material.
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