Gravel Pit Proposed Near Stauffer Creek

[Don Andersen]

Folks,

 

There is a gravel pit proposed for an area just west of the Stainbrooks Springs Property that is the source of much of the water for Stauffer Creek.

What concerns me is the very real chance of upsetting the spring flows to Stauffer.

Some years ago Petro-Can did a ground radar study of the underground flows in the Stauffer Valley. The study revealed a lot of the underground flow would be directly in the path of the proposed gravel extracton effort.

I would suggest that those that care, reflect your care somehow. Dept of Environment is a great place to start followed by Dept of Fisheries and Oceans, and of course CC both your MLA and MP the letter you send. The information meeting date/place is below.

There is really no public venue to express your concerns other than writing letters. The most important letter you can wirte is to the:

 

 

Clearwater County,

Attention Planning Dept.

Regarding Associated Aggregates Inc. Application

P.O. Box 550

4340 -47 Avenue

Rocky Mountain House, AB | T4T 1A4

Office: 403.845.4444 | Fax: 403.845.7330

 

Note: the letters are time sensitive. My understanding is the development board will meet in August. Your letters must be in to them by mid-July in order to be part of the package going to the develipment board.

 

Gravel pits,

 

Here is a copy of the proposal.

 

 

 

 

 

regards,

 

 

Don

[vince]

Don

 

Thanks for the info.....my letters will go out in the next few days.

 

Vince

[dipperdan]

Would it be any help if the club had a Letter petition signed by members?

[Don Andersen]

Dan,

 

Any and all efforts help. This can be stopped at the County level. Once it is approved, appeals go forward, Dept. Of En gets involved & it gets ugly and expensive.

 

Don

[fsa313]

Dan,

If you look after the petition, I will help out by telephone canvassing potential signers.

Neil

[dipperdan]

Unfortunatly I know nothing about starting a petition , but I would if I could. I was hoping that someone with the where with all might start it and I could help with taking it around .

[Don Andersen]

The best chance of derailing the proposal is the Development Permit stage. After talking to the Planning Officer, the Open House is of critical importance apparently. The Proponent has to record who attended and their concerns and has to submit these to the Planning Department. I urge you to attend the meeting and record your concerns. The open house is on June 23/14 from 4>8 pm at the Butte Community Hall which is located north of Caroline and within a mile or 2 of the Buck for Wildlife parking Lot on Stauffer Creek.Letters in opposition to the proposal is also one way the public gets counted at this point. But be forewarned, multiple letters all addressing the same thing hold the weight of a single letter according to the Development Officer. Do not get discouraged with the letter writing though, address the issues as your see fit and forward them along.However, if the proposal gets approved, the next stage is the appeals board where the public can make presentations. The appeals process must be started within 2 weeks of the Development Permit Approval.Other Govt agencies get involved. ESRD Water Resources branch will deal with water issues. From my experience with the gravel pits at the mouth of the Medicine, the Alberta Govt bureaucrats duck and run and will not get in the way of any development.The proposed pit is a reopening of a previous pit but with a significant difference. This pit will require dewatering as there will be a lot a water inflow from the aquifer the feeds Stauffer Creek. I was told the pit was abandoned due to water infiltration. The proposal shows a water retention pond that will hold the water pumped from the proposed new pit. How this will hold water is beyond me with the water table as close to the surface as it is.The water table in this area is from 4>6' below the surface with a fine example provided by the County of Clearwater when they rebuilt the east/west road on the north side of the proposed development. The removal of dirt from the ditch created a spring flow along the north side of the road that flowed <>200 yards to Stauffer Creek. Brook Trout utilized this spring to spawn in for 2 years till the grasses etc. stopped their movement into the spring area.The 1/4 section directly to the east is owned by a number of folks. The north side of Stauffer has two owners, the banks and shorelines on the stream are held under an ecological lease by the County of Clearwater, the south bank landowners are held jointly by the Alberta Conservation Association, Trout Unlimited Canada and Alberta Fish and Game Association.I hope you find the info complete and useful.If you have any questions, feel to send email.regards,Don

[Don Andersen]

Petitions do absolutely squat unless the legislation allows them and they are done in the legally precribed manner. This is not the time for petitions. Get to the meeting or personally write a letter addressing the issue as you see it.

Be forewarned, the adjacent landowners are of larger concern to the Permitting Board than a bunch of folks from the city. Still, don't be discouraged by this. Write!

It should be noted that the ACA, AF&G and TUC are joint holders of the land to the east and thier executive and staff should represent your concerns as well. Pressure them to turn out.

 

 

Don