Residents-company officials to form group over new quarry proposal in Niagara Falls
Published May 12, 2023 at 11:30 am
A quarry company, Walker Aggregates Inc., is looking to create a new quarry on the lands adjacent to Thorold Townline Rd, Beechwood Rd and Uppers Lane.
Local residents are not too keen on the idea of a quarry that close to their Fernwood Subdivision.
Niagara Falls City Council decided at their Tuesday (May 9) to create a huge table and get people from both sides sitting at it.
To that end, they created a Community Focus Group “comprised of concerned residents, City staff and
representatives from Walker Industries Inc. to address key issues that have been raised by the public on the quarry application to ensure transparency, input, communication and consensus.”
According to a report for council, penned by Andrew Bryce, the city’s Director of Planning, the group is looking to include two to three people from the Fernwood Subdivision though that could hop to four if it’s decided the community side should have eight members.
The non-Fernwood residents would include a Thorold resident since it borders the potential quarry, as well as “persons interested in natural heritage and representation from the local business community.”
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The quarry, of course, would be represented as would Niagara Region and city staff.
Bryce said that city staff “would be available to organize meetings and act as a resource. It is expected there will be a minimum of two meetings, which may be set up in person, as a virtual meeting or as a hybrid meeting.”
At a public meeting in March, the report said citizens had “a substantial number of public comments and concerns have been made” about the quarry proposal, “including but limited to concerns about to noise and vibration, safety, air quality, natural heritage impact and traffic. Many of these comments have been made by nearby residents, including from the Fernwood Subdivision.”
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