Cottagers group speaks up over quarry plans

Citizens and companies concerned about quarries were to give the government an earful at a hearing in Sudbury Tuesday as part of a review of Ontario's aggregate resources act.

Jim Gomm, the president of the cottagers association on Rock Lake, south of Sudbury, near the Killarney turnoff, said residents were given very little notice about two proposed quarries in the area.

"Some of our cottagers [have] seen some drilling going on alongside a cottage road," Gomm said. "It wasn't until we inquired that we were notified."

Gomm said nearby residents should be consulted more before the province gives the go-ahead to a new gravel pit or quarry.

But some in the industry — like Marcel Ethier, who runs a sand and gravel company in Sudbury — believe the influence of the public has already made the process too political.

"They have to listen to the public," he said. "The public isn't all wrong. But enough is enough."

If the Rock Lake cottagers association has anything to do about being heard, provincial politicians will get some advice about quarries and gravel pits.

"You have the right to enjoy your property," Gomm said. "You have the right to breathe fresh air. You have the right to community. And we think that, in some cases, our rights under some of these acts haven't been respected."

The committee reviewing the rules around quarries and gravel pits will report back to the provincial legislature.

But it will still be up to the government whether it changes the law or not.