The Ontario Municipal Board has set out stringent conditions for continuation of peat mining in Amaranth, thereby overcoming the only objection to the township’s most recent Official Plan and possibly resolving longstanding extraction problems.

A recent decision by OMB member Susan de Avellar Schiller establishes a new section of the OP, “Peat Extraction – Industrial,” clearly prohibiting any new extractive areas while requiring that existing ones meet planning requirements to continue in operation.

Allto Investment Holdings Inc., William Matthews and Edelbrock Brothers Ltd. had appealed a municipal affairs ministry approval of the township’s OP with respect to peat, and Edelbrock had appealed separately a comprehensive zoning bylaw based on the same issues.

Ms. Schiller noted that Amaranth’s planning documents did not permit peat extraction and, furthermore, that existing “operations are extracting peat in areas regulated by the Conservation Authorities without permits.”

Although the objective of the OP, to prohibit new areas of extraction, remains, “this amendment ... provides a framework to legalize those existing areas” of peat mining.

When Amaranth passed its bylaw many years ago to control removal of topsoil, representatives of Pouw Brothers pointed out that their peat operation would be exempt because peat is not technically topsoil.

Following that, Grand River Conservation Authority conducted a series of studies and sought ways in which it could prohibit the removal of peat, a resource considered vital to protection of ground water sources.

Now, according to the ruling, the existing operations must meet 10 criteria to continue their extractions.

The criteria include meeting requirements of the conservation authorities, and obtaining permits, as well as complying with the township’s zoning and road requirements.

The ruling requires siteplan approvals, identification of haul routes, and setbacks from “public roads, adjacent properties, significant natural heritage features” and a number of other things.

In some cases, it would require noise, dust, traffic and agricultural impact studies, and “if requested, an Environmental Impact Study to ensure that there will be no negative impacts on natural features or their ecological functions.”

Although the ruling has been in effect for several weeks, township CAO Susan Stone has confirmed that none of the operators has made application to meet the criteria.