IF ANYTHING, the prediction of Toronto lawyer Ian Rowe that Melancthon Township Council will need to budget $100,000 annually if it chooses to fight the Highland Companies proposal to have 2,400 acres of quarries on its land holdings is conservative.

As we see it, there’s no doubt whatsoever that in an election year councillors will be hardpressed to support a proposal that’s undoubtedly opposed by most of the eligible voters.

On the other hand, provincial laws appear to be strongly in favour of aggregate extraction over other land uses, including farming, and it’s at least arguable that there would be little point in the council fighting what would inevitably be a losing battle.

The one certainty is that whatever route Council takes (in passing or rejecting the required bylaw), the losing side will take their cause before the Ontario Municipal Board. The hearing will be hard-fought and potentially bitter as well as costly, especially to the losing party.

It seems Mr. Rowe’s prediction of a $400,000 cost is based on the process taking about four years and the hearing lasting about 10 days. But the cost would likely be higher if the quarry proposal is rejected.

In his e-mail to Township CAO Denise Holmes, he cites a Bigwin Resort/Lake of Bays case as showing such a bylaw is suspended whenever an issue “becomes litigious between an applicant and a municipality.”

With the stakes so high, it may well be that the councillors are caught in a costly ‘Catch 22.’