By Staff
October 7th, 2019
BURLINGTON, ON
More than 150 visitors came from across Halton Region to attend Nelson Aggregates’ Quarry Open House and Bus Tour.
Nelson President Quinn Moyer said: “We were pleasantly surprised. Attendees showed a lot of interest and support for our operations, our expansion plans and our vision for turning the site into a park over 30 years.”
The golf club property that is on the western side of the properties would be turned into a very large park.
The Open House featured bus tours of the quarry and interactive exhibits, including quarry machinery such as crushers, loaders, bulldozers and excavators.
“It’s great to see residents interested in the types of operations that form the foundation of our daily lives,” Moyer said. “It’s easy to forget that the building blocks of where we live come from quarries like ours.”
The Mt. Nemo quarry has played an important role as Burlington’s main source of limestone for more than 50 years. Its aggregate forms the foundation of most roads, buildings and infrastructure in Burlington.
One quarry that is close to be mined out; two new quarries that would be open and then everything would be turned over to the public.
A proposal is underway to expand the quarry over the next 30 years, and to donate the rehabilitated land in parcels over that time to form the largest park in Burlington.
The proposed park would be nearly six times larger than Burlington’s City View Park. The size and scale of the park would allow for abundant recreational opportunities, from biking and swimming to rock climbing and soccer.
A lake – 77 acres in size will be formed out of a mined out quarry.
The Gazette asked a reader to take the tour and come back to us with his views. He didn’t take out his wallet to buy into it – but did say that he wanted to hear more. “Was this a gift horse whose mouth we should be looking into” he asked “or is it a Trojan horse that we would regret letting in.”
The Nelson Aggregate people have yet to have a conversation with the ward Councillor, Rory Nisan, who has said he doesn’t want anyone to shape his opinion of the project, has shown no interest in hearing what the aggregate producer has in mind.
So far, the only Councillor who has been to the site is Angelo Bentivegna who was with our reader.
Our reader has said he is of two minds. The one thing he is certain about is that the city should be talking to the Nelson people and learning more about what they have in mind.
The Planning department, who have more on their plates than they can handle now, are certainly not out there looking for things to do.
Our reader said he was really impressed with the potential but did wonder if Burlington needed another park.
What our reader did find interesting was that no one he talked to came out and said they did not want a park in that part of Burlington.
With the public tour behind them Nelson now has to craft the application it has to take to the city and at the same time think through the various levels of government they are going to have to satisfy and how best they can do that.
The next step is to have a pre-consultation meeting with the Planning department – expected to be sometime in November.
The big picture question is: Is another park needed? Not today perhaps but in 30 years the need for public space will be a lot different than it is today.
To find out more CLICK HERE
