NDACT urged to keep raising money

Facing confirmation that The Highland Companies would be applying for a quarry permit within "three to six months," the North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce (NDACT) heard Saturday that it would likely need to raise about $250,000 within a year.

The money would be needed to pay for consulting, legal and other costs in NDACT's battle against what it sees as a threat of massive open-pit mining of limestone in vast tracts of potato fields throughout the 6,000 acres held by Highland.

"I wouldn't be exaggerating if I told you you'll need a quarter million dollars in a year," warned Guelph lawyer Ted Oldfield as he encouraged the assembled crowd of close to 300 at Honeywood Arena to keep doing exactly what it has been doing.

Mr. Oldfield is a son of Gordon Oldfield, possibly the longest serving reeve of Melancthon Township during his lifetime. As a lawyer, he specializes in agricultural issues.

Ted Oldfield compared the NDACT fight against aggregate extraction with the longrunning battle of Elmira residents to force errant chemical companies to clean their water supply, and NDACT distributed an opinion piece from the Guelph Mercury that said quarries are a threat to the water supply. The writer said a Puslinch quarry uses more water daily than does a small city.

He need not have warned the group about the financial costs of their fight. NDACT is already leaving no stone unturned in that respect. One couldn't walk onto the ice surface of the arena without seeing displays of T-shirts, details of silent auctions and upcoming events, along with the usual membership table and a place to make donations.

Nor was there a murmur of surprise when the crowd heard that the township planner had been advised by John Lowndes and Michael Daniher of Highland that there would be an application to extract aggregates below the water table within three to six months.

And that should not have been a surprise. This newspaper had pointed to the Lowndes family name's association with the aggregates industry shortly after John Lowndes began assembling acreage under a numbered Ontario company, and Mr. Daniher said some time ago that Highland would be exploring various potentials for effective land use.

Should Highland's future applications for permits and zoning be successful, the company has undertaken to rehabilitate quarry sites progressively to "agricultural use." But township councils so far have been unable to speak to any of the issues as there have been no applications filed.

In that vein, Mr. Oldfield told the crowd he would be suspicious of the constant presence of a Highland representative at council meetings. He said in effect that, in his experience, such meetings are not exactly entertaining.

NDACT spokesman Carl Cosack delivered what appeared to be a troop-rallying speech generally related to the group's dealings with county council on tree-cutting issues.

He received a rousing ovation when he quoted Orangeville Mayor Rob Adams as saying NDACT did not have the right to question the council or its staff, and Mono Mayor Lorie Haddock as saying the council could not discuss fining Highland for tree-bylaw infractions as Highland had not admitted such.

"I hadn't heard I had to admit I'd done wrong before (I could be convicted)," he said.

(In fact, what Mr. Adams had said at the county was that the council had instructed the staff to conduct its investigations, and it wouldn't be right for the council to criticize staff at open council.

As well, what Ms. Haddock said was that there couldn't be discussions of fines or jail until there had been proof of wrongdoing. She might have confused the issue by adding that she had not seen an admission of guilt within the correspondence.)

According to information given to the meeting, Melancthon planner Jerry Jorden had known since May 27 that Highland would be applying for an aggregate license, but did not draft a report of his meeting of that date until June 11.

The report does not have details of the upcoming application except to say that it will be for a "quarry with extraction below the water table."

Although the initial location is not indicated, Mr. Jorden's letter says Highland's haul route will be on County 124, and no other roads would be involved.

"The company representatives were interested in the possibility of a pre-application meeting with Council and some form of pre-application session with the public, possibly an open-house session," he said.