Council for the Rural Municipality of Hanover will take the next couple of weeks to consider a request by Diamond Construction and Gravel.
General Manager Doug Hamm appeared before Council on Wednesday, seeking permission for an aggregate extraction operation southeast of Kleefeld. The land is owned by Heinrich and Jenneth Hildebrand. It is located north of Road 31N and east of Road 27E.
Hanover Planning Manager Jeremy Neufeld says drill logs on the 74-acre parcel indicate that there is valuable coarse gravel that extends to approximately 40 feet in depth at the north end of the property. The plan would be to extract gravel at the north end of the property, with a stockpile in the centre of the site.
Prior to hearing from Hamm, Neufeld reminded Council that the establishment of new aggregate extraction operations routinely provides a challenge for municipal councils. He notes the use tends to create long-term land use conflicts with neighbours, is unsightly and often damages the roads. However, Neufeld says aggregate is a non-renewable resource that is essential in the construction and maintenance of roads and other building projects.
According to Neufeld, the municipality received no written correspondence from neighbours, prior to the public hearing.
Hamm told Council that the area where they would like to do the extraction is 28 acres in size. He notes they would excavate on-site and then crush and screen as required. Their proposed haul route would be down Road 27E, south to Road 31N and then west to Provincial Road 216.
Hamm says their proposed hours of operation would be Monday to Friday, from 7 am to 6 pm. However, he says there could be some exceptions when they would like to do some Saturday hauling or start a little earlier or end a little later. Hamm notes the intent would be to mine the site for at least 10 years.
According to Hamm, the nearest neighbour is about 300 metres away. He notes Diamond Construction is required to pay mining fees as well as help cover costs of road maintenance. They would also build a 1.5 metre-high berm to help with noise.
Hamm says there is a fund, which Diamond pays into, for reclaiming land after a gravel pit has reached the end of its life. He notes two examples of reclaimed pits in the Steinbach area are Cherry Hill and Quarry Oaks. As for road maintenance, Hamm says if they excavate half a million tonnes of gravel in 10 years, they would be expected to pay about $75,000 over that time, towards road maintenance.
Two different neighbours spoke up at Wednesday's public hearing. Neither one was opposed to the application, but both were asking for Council to place the necessary conditions on this project if approved. Conditions had to do with ensuring the water table will not change, forcing the applicant to construct a fence around the entire property, making sure trees are kept, ensuring road maintenance is not left to be covered by taxpayers, and keeping stockpiles of gravel as far from neighbours' homes as possible.
Hanover Councillor Travis Doerksen recommended the proposal be sent to the municipality's Planning Committee for a recommendation. The motion was seconded by Councillor Brian Esau, who noted that he does not want this gravel pit to be in operation for decades to come. By a count of 4-3, Council passed a motion to send the proposal to its Planning Committee. Council will not make a decision prior to June 11th.
Reeve Jim Funk says there are a few issues that need to be addressed, which is why the matter will be looked at by their Planning Committee. First of all, he says the entire operation is probably larger than expected. And, secondly, he notes it is quite close to some nearby residences.