Gravel project open houses fixed for August 19 and 20

The public will have a chance this month to scrutinize plans for a $12 million gravel operation in Barrhead county.

Two meetings on the Stony Valley Project have been organized. One will take place at Mystery Lake Community Hall on Aug. 19. The other is scheduled for the next day at Romeo Lake Community Hall.

The meetings start at 6:30 p.m. and will include a presentation by Stony Valley Contracting Ltd. general manager Dan Fouts.

Other company representatives will be present too.

People will also be able to view a series of displays on the project, the revised haulage route, fill comment cards and take part in a question and answer session.

“It has been a three-year process of public consultation and we have explored and exhausted all the different combinations of how we might manage this project,” said Fouts last Tuesday. “I will be telling folks about what we have done in the past year, and we will listen to any other concerns.”

The project was launched after a big gravel deposit was found at a 640-acre site about 30 miles from downtown Barrhead.

Last June and July public meetings at Mystery Lake, Romeo Lake and Cherhill were held into the proposed gravel pit and haul routes.

One of the concerns expressed was the impact on the health of the Athabasca River from digging gravel pits in an alluvial aquifer. Other worries related to traffic and noise.

Last week Fouts said he had spent the previous 12 months in further public consultation.

He said he had met residents, landowners and grazing lessees next to the suggested haul route where it enters the Connor Creek Provincial Grazing Reserve in the north from the proposed development area and where it exits the provincial grazing reserve heading east along Township Road 594 to Range Road 64.

In a letter to residents and landowners, Fouts said Stony Valley’s goal had always been to identify a potential haul route that affects the least number of residents and landowners and to mitigate as much as possible potential issues or concerns with the project.

“We believe the time is now right to hold a second round of open house and community meetings with residents and landowners prior to submitting our development permit application with the County of Barrhead No. 11 in early September,” the letter stated.

“We look forward to sharing our most recent information regarding the proposed project with the local community and to listen and learn from residents and landowners regarding any remaining potential issues or concerns that must be addressed as part of the development permit application.

“We have not yet filed our regulatory application with the county of Barrhead No. 11 but our intention is to do so following this second round of open house and community meetings.”

Last week Fouts said he had tried to be honest and forthright about the project, which would undoubtedly have an impact on some residents.

“This is not a short-term project,” he said. “This is a 25 to 30-year project.” Fort McMurray-based Stony Valley needs a water licence and a development permit from Barrhead County before it can start operations at the Crown Lands site in TWP61-R7-W5M.

If approvals are granted, road building and upgrades costing $7m-$9m and pit development would then take place.

“It will take between one and-a-half years and two years to begin operations at the pit,” said Fouts.

It is hoped the project will deliver 2,700-3,000 tonnes of gravel to markets in Barrhead County, Lac Ste. Anne and, primarily, Edmonton.

Stony Valley plans to hire 25 local employees at the site for work such as loading, excavating, bulldozing, stripping equipment and operating off-road vehicles. There will also be work for truck drivers.

The company intends to sub-contract out hauling, with a consistent stream of 25 trucks leaving the development site for Edmonton, making three trips a day. The trucks will deposit gravel in a series of satellite yards in the Edmonton area.