The City of Ottawa has received applications from Crain’s Construction of Maberly, Ontario to rezone 180 acres of land at 7731 Fernbank Road (just west of Jinkinson) for a quarry.
Officially, they’ve applied to change the Official Plan designation of the property to “Limestone Resource Area” and to rezone property, to “Mineral Extraction Zone”. The land is currently zoned as Rural Countryside (RU).
If the zoning and official plan amendments are approved, Crain would still need approvals from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of Environment before they can start operating.
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Typically, quarries are used to extract limestone from the ground for construction, such as road beds or for concrete and asphalt production.
This would be the eighth quarry in the Jinkinson-Fernbank-Flewellyn area. Taggart has a quarry in the proposal stage just east of this one, and council approved rezoning for that operation last April. The Taggart quarry was opposed by nearby residents, including the North West Goulbourn Community Association, over a number of concerns including traffic and noise. The proposed Crain Quarry is right across the street from a small residential subdivision on Lucas Lane.
A report prepared by engineering firm McIntosh Perry says: “The subject property is bounded by the Trans Canada Trail to the north, open meadow and farmland to the east and west, and Fernbank Road along the southern boundary. The property slopes gently toward the northwest where drainage ultimately outlets to an area of wetland on the north side of the Trans Canada Trail. North-east of the site is an extensive area of limestone quarry operations. South of Fernbank Road there is an existing country lot residential subdivision that extends south of Fernbank along Lucas Lane. There is an existing two storey brick house located roughly in the south-west quadrant of the property as well as some outbuildings once used for agricultural purposes. There are trees and shrubs around the perimeter of the property and along old fencerows.”
The City’s official plan identifies the site as “partially lying within a wellhead protection area for the water supply for the village of
Richmond,” according to the report.
The report says extraction would take place at the north end of the site, at least 120 metres from Fernbank road, to provide a separation from sensitive land uses south of Fernbank Road. The report also says the extraction area is at least 150 metres from part of the Huntley Wetland Complex, which is a Provincially Significant Wetland (PSW). Eventually, the extraction area would cover 56.2 hectares of the 72.9 hectares of land.
Vehicle access would be via Fernbank Road, with an estimated 68 inbound and 68 outbound vehicle trips during each rush hour, primarily truck traffic.
(An archeological assessment on the site uncovered the remains of a 19th century farm, but we’ll tell you that story in a later article.)
The City’s Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee will consider the application later this year. In the meantime, you can read all of the related reports and documents to the applications on OttWatch.ca. To submit comments to the city, contract Lorraine Stevens, Development Review Planner at lorraine.stevens@ottawa.ca
UPDATE: The land is also currently listed for sale at $4.5-million: “200 acre pit/quarry with a proposed licenced pit/quarry of +/- 130 acres. Approximately 195,000 metric tonnes of surface top soil and 2,300,000 surface gravel. Proposed quarry depth is 90 feet and volume of quarriable rock is approximately 35,000,000 metric tonnes. Limestone is a good aggregate source and testing of limestone for asphalt and concrete is ongoing. This is an excellent opportunity for continued/expanded use. Application for licence has been submitted to the City of Ottawa. (Property taxes and acreage are to be verified.)
