'We’re subjects of a long con': Snowball residents fight aggregate expansion

Yorkergion.com
Feb. 27, 2019
Sheila Wang

Sher Kitts is at her wits’ end.

All Kitts wants is to live a peaceful life with her family in their dream house that was built for her special-needs son in 1989, but she fears a recent decision by the
Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) will make it impossible.

“We’ve been discounted like we didn’t exist.”

The LPAT approved a request on Feb. 4 for the expansion of an aggregate storage operation on Wellington Street West in Snowball, a tiny rural hamlet on the eastern edge of King Township.

Kitts, who has lived in Snowball across the street from the aggregate operation for 30 years, worried that the expansion would bring even more industrial noise, dust clouds and traffic nuisances than what they’ve already been enduring in the past years.

“We’re running out of time. I don’t know what I can do,” Kitts said, as she was given only 30 days to appeal the decision by the LPAT.

A dozen of Snowball residents met at Kitts’ house on Feb. 20 to start a public campaign protesting the aggregate expansion in their front yards. Ward 1 Coun. Jordan Cescolini also showed up in support.

But they need more help, Kitts said. And more specifically, they want help from King Township.
Council was on their side.

In November 2016 -- five years after Brock Aggregates completed its application for the aggregate expansion -- council voted to reject the application for the 2,381-square-metre building expansion in Snowball.

Despite the planning department’s recommendation, council decided to side with the residents who had made their voices heard throughout the years.
G and L Group, which owns Brock Aggregates, appealed King’s decision in May 2017 to the Ontario Municipal Board -- now the LPAT -- and won.

Kitts said she and her neighbours have been asking King Township to fight along again, but she said the response from Mayor Steve Pellegrini has been a disappointment.

“We stood up with the residents even though the staff took a position that they were well within their rights to do what they did,” said Pellegrini, who said council cannot appeal the decision just because residents don’t like it.

“It doesn’t work that way. You have to appeal on an error of law which means that the person proceeding over the case made a mistake,” he added.
After consulting with lawyers, Pellegrini said there is no grounds for an appeal because there wasn’t any error in law.

While sympathizing with the Kitts family, the mayor said they built their home well aware of the existence of an industrial site right across the street.
Kitts disagrees, pointing out the site looked a lot different three decades ago.

As far as she can remember, the aggregate operation began around 1994 when Kenmark Sand and Gravel purchased the lot, which was once a garbage dump.
“We’re subjects of a long con,” Kitts said, noting the aggregate started small, by only five trucks a day back then.

But the noise and dust had become a much bigger problem in the late 1990s when Brock Aggregates took over the operation, said Greg Farren, a lifelong resident in Snowball who lives directly across the industrial site.

The company has increased the operation to 25 trucks a day, and is seeking further expansion on the site where there have already been outdoor storage bins, truck turning areas and a storage building.

“Now it’s been a free fall. They can do pretty much what they want,” Farren said.

What worried him even more is what G and L Group is going to do with the proposed large storage building.

According to its official website, G and L Group, one of the largest supplies of construction materials, has a wide of range of products and services ranging from salt, to waste and recycling.

Farren and Kitts are working together with their neighbours to raise awareness of the ongoing issue, hoping that things will eventually turn around.

Their Facebook group -- SaveSnowball -- has garnered more than 100 likes so far.

The township won’t be sitting by, Pellegrini said, and would like to take a pragmatic approach.

“We’re gonna look at our legal options. If it ramps up, our enforcement will have to ramp up. Since that time, we’ve hired more bylaw officers too,” Pellegrini said.

However, Kitts was not optimistic.

In her spacious bungalow, Kitts walked around showing with pride the specially-designed windows and hallways for her son in wheelchair. There was also an electric lift on the ceiling in her son’s bedroom to help lift him off every day.

Moving is the last thing she wants, but she may have to consider it.

Just one day before the interview with Yorkregion.com, Ontario announced its commitment to promoting economic growth in aggregate industry.

“We want to work with industry leaders on how we can tear down barriers to create an environment for growth and a sustainable resource sector,” said John
Yakabuski, minister of natural resources and forestry.

Kitts paused at the minister’s comment, as she was reading the press release.

“Am I a barrier? I must be. They’re tearing me down.”