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ontario residents face a number of key issues a number of key issues face the resi dents of ontario with respect to the problem of living with gravel pits and stone quarries costs very few would deny therole rising costs play in- inflation currently aggregates delivered in toronto cost 4 to 5 per ton underground min- ing for the material would double this price to s10 per ton and shipping aggregates in from northern ontario could cost four or five times the cur rent price or almost 20 per ton s because half of ontarios aggregates go into highway construction how we choose to extract the material will have a direct and immediate impact on local and provincial taxes not to mention residential and commer cial building costs the buyer should not only p w the material but also the cost of main taining the pit or quarry in decent condition of rehabilitating it after it is worked out and of repairing roads and other facilities damaged by heavy equipment a price for increased sophistication of operation and re habilitation of sites will have to be reckoned rehabilitation responsible companies have begun to rehabilitate their old pits and quarries throughout the province unfortu nately others haye not for current and future licences pit operators must agree to a program of rehabilitation which includes clearly stated acceptable standards thvmmistry has publications on this subject and- they are available on request w who is in charge unfortunately the situation is not dear under current legislation the province and local municipalities have control over the location and- operation of pits and quarries con flicting jurisdiction has led to a situation where producers are denied access to supplies local opposition residents living near existing pits and quarries frequently object to the noise dust truck traffic safety risks and ugly appearance of the sites they obviously have legitimate complaints aggregate companies individually and through their association should agree withlocal residents to a pro gram of action to resolve these com plaints how this should be done remains an open question compensation to municipali- ties the large volume ofheavy truck traf fic to and from an aggregate site fre quently damages existing roads andv highways some feel that the aggre gate industry is not paying its fair share of the costs of local govern ment- again companies and munici palities must work out a mutually satisfactory arrangement wayside pits and quarries a wayside pit is opened and used bya public authority for a particular road construction project a provincial policy for the operation of wayside pits and quarries should be worked out licencing the process of obtaining approval for opening a pit or quarry whether under local or provincial jurisdiction is slow and costly various steps could be consolidated to enable proponents and opponents to contribute effec tively to a decision property rights owners of land containing aggregate even appropriately zoned find that their right to dispose of their property is severely limited by the objections of their neighbours residents with equal fervour argue that an operating gravel pit tramples on their right to quiet enjoyment of their land and community of course only mutually acceptable programs of operation and rehabili tation can resolve this conflict over property rights demand and supply trends indicate future aggregate shortages a shortage of aggregate in thenear future is possible because of inade quate planning unsuitable zoning regulations and local opposition recent estimates place central ontarios reserves at 93 billion tons but only 3 billion tonsenouyii to meet the current demands of central ontario are available because of vari ous restrictions with proper planning this amount can be increased and future access to these reserves by the public will be assured rehabilitated site v projected demand to the year 2001 of this area is 2 8 billion tons so the supply is definitely running out increasing quantities of aggregate are used in residential and road construc tion for instance- annual consump tion rose from six tons per person in the late 1940s to 11 tons per person in 1972 i builders of a 60000 house in 197k used 420 tons of aggregate in the buildings structure and in associated sewers roads and other services currently house builders use 7 tons of aggregate for every 1000 of resi dential construction including associ ated services in 197374 public roads in central ontario used 30 million tons of sand gravel and crushed stone this is understandable when you consider that every mile of two lane highway which cost 600000 in 1971 requires 64500 jons of aggregate 7 r some reactions if you do not fife an objection it may be assumed you dont care if a new gravel pit is installed on your neighbours property are you not sickened at the thought of tremendous size trucks roaring up and down your road protest by citizen leader we must haveaggregates to main- jain building and roadway con struction and we must dig for them within economical reach of our markets we aredoing a great deal as an association to limit ourimpaci on the environ ment and on our neighbours d hicks president of aggregate producers association of ontario there is no selection of gravel pit licence- applicants based on past r performance there is a small minority of operators complying to the screening regulations and there have been no prosecutions in this regard v j councillor john palmer 1 north dumfries township lagree the situation is grim and the prices theyre paying are exorbitant but the blame must fall on the province which lias taken so long to process these pit applications councillor fred chapman wilmot township dont feel that erin township should become a massive gravel pit we are very concerned about the drawbacks i exreeve jim mundell erin va- v wm ji v w-r- s rzk v- vi- uxbridge area estimated reserves and production millions of tons gravelf stone total production 1974 i- pickering uxbridge whitchurch 320 21 total 341 320 21 341 11 46 33 90 t the potential available supply in the regional municipality of durham is some 260 million tons metro joronto currently uses about 50 million tons per year