A Stittsville quarry expansion has cleared a city committee despite residents’ fears of environmental impacts.
The class A quarry, owned by Tomlinson Group, located just south of Stittsville will triple in size, expanding across 635 Jinkinson Rd. and 891 Jinkinson Rd., near Highway 7 in Rideau-Jock Ward. The expansion will take in two wetlands which lost designations as provincially significant a few years ago.
A city report says the “site is proposed to be progressively rehabilitated to restore and reinstate natural heritage features, including new wetlands and woodlands.”
Still, local environmentalists and Stittsville residents fear the impact of the expansion of the quarry.
One brought the remains of a midland painted turtle showing, he said, what happened when another wetland was drained.
And local resident Mike Wesley said he is very concerned about drainage and possibility of flooding from the expansion of the quarry. He said that drainage and flooding have long been issues for Stittsville residents.
“We have enough drainage issues not corrected for years and we don’t need any more” he said during a March 5 meeting of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.
The Tomlinson Group says it will restore and rehabilitate the area on the completion of the project. The report also mentions that a 30.0-metre buffer will be enforced to protect an adjacent wetland.
The expansion is now headed to city council for final approval.
