Elected types forget that it was a citizens group, PERL that led the fight that resulted in the hearing that resulted in no quarry on Mt. Nemo.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  October 12, 2012   Someone seems to have forgotten who got the ball rolling when it came to fighting the application Nelson Aggregates planned to make for an additional license to take stone out of the ground on the Mt. Nemo Plateau.

According to Roger Goulet, it was Isobel Harmer and her daughter Sarah along with Dick Lyons who held that very first meeting more than seven and a half years ago.

PERL wants to ensure that when this quarry is mined out that the site is properly rehabilitated and returned to the public. The depth will make it a magnificent lake when water is allowed to build up.

In a press release the city lauds almost everyone except the PERL people.  It was the research that PERL folks did on the Jefferson Salamander which had one of its few habitat on the Harmer family property.

Councillor John Taylor, whose ward encompasses much of the Escarpment, and who knows the people who fought with him on an issue he is very passionate about, seemed to have forgotten who his allies really are when he said:   “My thanks go out to the city’s legal team, including environmental lawyer Rod Northey of Fogler Rubinoff in Toronto.  City staff demonstrated the values that we as a community cherish. They showed a passion for the environment and a commitment to preserving the Niagara Escarpment.”

The best the Mayor could do was say: “This is excellent news for the people of Burlington and for the Niagara Escarpment, a world biosphere reserve.”  To his credit however, the Mayor did arrange to buy one of the limited edition prints of  Mt. Nemo that decorates his office.

PERL has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and still owes a significant amount to various creditors, yet made no mention of PERL when Taylor said: “My thanks go out to the city’s legal team, including environmental lawyer Rod Northey of Fogler Rubinoff in Toronto.  said Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor. “City staff demonstrated the values that we as a community cherish. They showed a passion for the environment and a commitment to preserving the Niagara Escarpment.”

Few in Burlington fully understand how much harm was being done to the Escarpment as a result of the quarry. Thus topographical map shows where the quarry is in relationship to the Escarpment. The site is shown in red outline.  The land Nelson Aggregates wanted a license to quarry is just below the existing quarry.  PERL wants to work with the public to come up with a plan to protect all of the plateau.  What would you do with this part of the city if you had a voice?

To his credit Taylor did put out a second statement the next day recognizing the PERL contribution.  One would have thought every elected or appointed official would have bumped into each other getting to a microphone to talk about how important it is to have public spirited citizens doing the hard work that brings about results like this Ontario Municipal Board decision.

Public accolades are not that important to the PERL people.  They will meet next week to celebrate a bit more and then buckle down to planning a very public celebration and then move on to their Nemo 7g project, which is a look at a much more far ranging plan for the Mt. Nemo plateau and – to ensuring that something useful gets done with the quarry site Nelson is still taking stone out of.

The longer term plan, which is to let the site fill up with water over time, was put together more than 25 years ago and Roger Goulet thinks that plan is very much out of date.

While Nelson Aggregate is not a part of the Nemo 7G organization, one would hope that there might at some point be talks with Nelson to perhaps turn the whole thing over to PERL and let them do what should be done with the site.

It’s a pretty big operation and, if Burlington can follow the pattern that we see in St. Mary’s, ON, where the old quarry was turned into a swimming pool for residents, a very respectable park could be located on that  property.

PERL wants to now transition itself from an advocacy group,  formed to fight a major battle,  into an organization that moves on to the next step which is to ensure there is a community based plan for all of the Mt. Nemo plateau.

They formed Nemo7G  to gather community input and form a 7-generation vision for the Mount Nemo plateau.

The vision is to develop and implement a multigenerational plan that will balance sociocultural, technological, ecological, economic and regulatory factors to protect and enhance the natural, recreational and spiritual qualities of the Mount Nemo plateau for current and future generations.

It was Isobel Harmer and her daughter Sarah who were the early advocates for a community response to an application by a mining company for a second license to take stone out of the Mt Nemo plateau. Dick Lyons was at the table with the Harmer’s

PERL has taken on the task of providing the leadership and mobilizing community members, governments and businesses to develop and participate in defining a 7 generation plan

The objective is to preserve our natural capital while improving the diversity and quality of living for all forms of life on the Mt. Nemo plateau through collaborative, educational, energy-efficient and spiritual means.

The first step is to educate the community, businesses and governments on the values of the community and the natural heritage of the Mt. Nemo plateau and ideally transform the quarry into a world renowned, economically self-sustaining site that embodies the spiritual, environmental and recreational aspirations of the community.

Big job – you bet it is.  But PERL has shown that it has the organizational depth plus the level of ongoing commitment needed to stick it out and not back down.  Now, given the grace they have shown this past few days, they should be able to take the talks that have already taken place with Nelson Aggregates to a new level and work with that company to come up with a long range plan that will benefit the immediate community as well as the people who live south of the Dundas – 407 corridor who see Mt. Nemo as a nature walk destination.

That clump of land in the middle of the quarry will eventually become a small island in a man made lake.

Burlington city council has held receptions for all the Olympians who represented Canada in London and Monday night council will recognize the magnificent achievement of Brandon Wagner: who competed in men’s wheelchair basketball in the London 2012 Paralympic Games where he won a Gold medal.

Not to take away one bit of the recognition that young man deserves, nor diminish the inspiration he will be to thousands of disabled men and woman, but the Mt. Nemo we know today will be there for centuries after we are nothing but ashes.  PERL is making sure it doesn’t get turned into a super highway with parking lots and picnic tables.

Time for the city to recognize all of its heroes.