Staff memo.
The purpose of this email is to provide a brief overview of the recent decision on the City’s Leave to Appeal application with respect to the Guelph-Dolime quarry in the Township of Guelph-Eramosa.
On January 25, 2013 the Ministry of the Environment (“MOE”) issued a permit to take water (“PTTW”) to River Valley Developments Inc. (“RVD”), extending RVD’s existing PTTW at the Dolime Quarry and allowing them to move the main sump. On February 11, 2013, the City filed an appeal application with the Environmental Review Tribunal (“ERT”) for leave to appeal the decision. The City has taken the position that aggregate extraction operations at the Guelph Dolime Quarry pose a significant risk to Guelph’s drinking water, and that the PTTW will increase this risk unless it includes conditions requiring the establishment of a management plan for the quarry, an adequate monitoring program, and financial assurances.
In its decision of May 2, 2014 the ERT granted the City’s request for leave to appeal the PTTW, in its entirety. The decision to grant leave cannot be appealed.
The decision to grant leave paves the way for a full hearing on the merits that will focus on the appropriate conditions for an extended PTTW. Pumping will continue at the Quarry, and the ERT has given the parties (the City, MOE and RVD) 31 days from the date of the decision to report back with an agreed plan for dewatering to continue at the quarry until such time as a final decision is issued or a resolution is reached.