Please find attached a notice for a Public Information Session to be held June 9 pertaining to a request for a fill permit at 13333 and 13473 Warden Avenue, which is located just south of Bloomington Road.

The public notice is available here

Many of you may be aware of these properties and their history. They are a former gravel pit, operated at times by Dufferin Aggregates as an extraction site, and more recently by Pitway Corp also for extraction, under a Ministry of Natural Resources license. When the extraction was completed, in the early 2000’s, the site was rehabilitated to the satisfaction of the MNR, at which point a permit was applied for by Pitway  Corp and was granted by the Town to fill the pit to a grade as agreed upon by both parties.

Unfortunately, it ended up being over filled, in the amount of approximately 800,000 cubic meters of fill.

The previous owner and the Town came to an agreement for financial compensation (costs and fines), to which the owner agreed.

The property then came to be sold to the current owners, Boilen Properties Limited, who are, or should have been fully aware of the conditions of the property, and are required to fulfill the conditions of the original 2004 permit given to Pitway. Which included application of sufficient topsoil, final grading, reforestation of sections, surface water catchment ponds, and seeding of vegetation to prevent erosion of the surface and impact to neighbouring properties.

So far none of that has been done, and the fulfillment date of November 2016 is fast approaching.

The anticipated purpose of this Public Information Session is that the proponent will likely be applying for a permit to strip approximately 150,000 cubic meters of overburden material from a property to the north, 13545 Warden Avenue under a MNR extraction licence, and move said material to 13333 and 13473 as an effort to “rehabilitate” the property. As well, between 50,000 and 100,000 cubic meters of topsoil will have to be added to enable proper growing medium for required reforestation and vegetation regeneration.

This may potentially bring the overfill of the property to 1,000,000 cubic meters or more.

The Public Information Session will be an opportunity for residents and other interested parties to ask questions of the proponent and Town Staff to learn more about the proposal. No decisions are made at the time, however the proponent typically weighs the input before coming before council for approval of their request.

Please take the time to attend if possible, or please contact myself below, or Paul Mercer, Engineering Technologist at the Town.

Thank you, and hope to see you there.