CambridgeToday received the following letter from readers Robert and Bonnie Fach regarding the progress of gravel pits in their area.
In the past two weeks, we have watched in great disappointment the earth moving equipment at work on the property at the corner of Alps and Spragues roads in North Dumfries Township creating new berms, establishing fencing, locating a roadway, and moving topsoil.
The poor folks in the home at that corner look out their front window at gigantic piles of soil and now there is another pile of earth out their back windows.
They are literally hemmed in with nothing to see but dirt where before this destruction they looked out on fields and forest.
This is a family with a backyard set up for children to play in all seasons.
All this pushing up of soil is to make way for a roadway for gravel trucks into the huge pit on the north side of Alps Road to hide the ruin of the land.
There was no warning, no signs like there are along Spragues Road, Greenfield Road and Shouldice Road to let our community know the Edworthy West Pit is coming.
The enormous Edworthy West Pit will include a lot of berms; however, if and when, our community does not know.
Add to that, the fight continues over the expansion of the Dance Pit on Cedar Creek Road right up to the very back doors of people in the city of Cambridge who have lived for years with the promise that expansion would never happen.
Another family has put tens of thousands of dollars into a home on Shouldice Road, a family who we are told asked about pits to come and were told there were no plans for gravel pits in their immediate vicinity.
Soon there will be the enormous Edworthy West pit right along their road.
It seems like we wait for information then can do absolutely nothing to stop gravel pits creeping everywhere in our area. Our township already has more than 42 pits which is enough!
Does the Auditor General for Ontario’s report re: gravel pits hold no sway at all in stopping the wholesale destruction to come in our area? As we travel around our local roads we have to deal with the effects of truck traffic in every direction i.e., bumpy roads, increasing numbers of large trucks, muck and dirt on wet days flying all over our vehicle, swirling dirt blowing distances on hot, dry days, on and on.
The destruction of the natural world of insects, animals, birds, farm fields, shrubs, trees, etc. will all soon be hidden from view by more giant berms along the roads we mention in this letter. And, that will be for many years into the future as 11 million tons of gravel will be extracted from the Edworthy West pit.
Large gravel trucks will increase to 45 per hour along Spragues Road when this pit opens.
We feel ill-informed about the progress of pits to come in this area. Once there is an application by a gravel company for a change in designation from agricultural to aggregate it seems like the community can have no say whatsoever.
With the death of a long time resident on Greenfield Road, we worry about her properties abutting the Dryden Tract Conservation area to its south side.
Will Greenfield Road become the next Alps or Dumfries Road with pits one after the other?
What will happen to the value of our home properties with so many gravel pits and their noise, destruction and traffic in our area?
Gravel trucks consistently drive on roads they are not supposed to be on and that will only increase because we see it every single day. Galt area properties in the southwest parts of Cambridge have no idea what is coming right on their doorstep which is not fair. You cannot fight what you don't know.
Such a disappointment with no meetings or community input with the North Dumfries Council or Cambridge Council.
What is happening? We have lived in this area for over 44 years and to see this terrible destruction is heart-breaking. We need a progress report from our mayor, township council, Cambridge council and our MPP and MP.
Robert and Bonnie Fach
Cambridge, Ont.
