Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Residents concerned about the proposed asphalt plant at 8205 County Rd. 2 in Greater Napanee had a chance to pose questions to R.W. Tomlinson Ltd. during a virtual meeting held Thursday night.
The community virtual information meeting was hosted by Tomlinson and is separate from a mandatory public meeting that will be hosted in conjunction with the Town of Greater Napanee at a yet to be determined date.
Public opposition to the project has been steady since April of this year when plans of the proposed plant were made public. Tomlinson acquired the former Don Hart Construction Quarry in 2018 and has operated a temporary asphalt plant at the site in 2018 as well as one that is currently in operation.
Thursday’s information session was held in response to the growing number of residents who have publicly objected to the proposed permanent plant, citing concerns over air quality, noise, potential environmental damage and decreased property values, among other objections.
Sue Cumming of Cumming and Company served as an independent facilitator of the meeting, which featured an hour long presentation followed by an hour and a half of question and answer, each question submitted online during the meeting and then read aloud by Cummings.
“In terms of what an asphalt plant is, it essentially combines sand and gravel, bitumen and heat to produce asphalt which is used for building and maintaining highways, roads, trails, parking lots and driveways,” said Neal DeRuyter, a planner with MHBC Planning, representing Tomlinson. “It’s anticipated that a maximum of 80,000 tonnes of asphalt per year would be produced. And the year-to-year amount would largely depend on demands during construction season. The plant would be operational for about 160 days a year, during the construction season and that’s anticipated roughly around April to the end of November. The typical hours of operation for the plant would be 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., shipping will mostly occur during the day and we’d like to note that there are some highway paving projects that require asphalt that must be done during the overnight. Typically this involves provincial highway projects such as the 401. As a result this plant may be operational during the night, but this would be a rare occurrence. More stringent noise controls would be in place for any over night operations that would occur within the plant.”
Also on the meeting were experts from Golder Associates, Freefield Ltd. and Castleglenn Consultants, all of which were contracted by Tomlinson to study potential air quality, sound and traffic impacts of the plant.
“There are no outstanding concerns from the technical reviewers regarding noise, traffic, storm water and natural heritage,” said DeRuyter, to which each expert would confirm later in the presentation, noting the project met ministry regulations.
Those who oppose the project often bring up the plant’s proximity to homes, the Napanee River and the downtown core.
“We’ve heard several questions about why this location in particular for an asphalt plant and we thought it would be helpful to highlight just a few key elements both from a planning and locational perspective,” said DeRuyter. “The first is that this site in particular where the asphalt plant is proposed is designated within the town’s official plan to permit an asphalt plant. There are limited sites within the town where this use is permitted within the official plan. Secondly, locating an asphalt plant near sources of high quality stone, which is a critical ingredient for the production of asphalt, provides significant economic, social and environmental benefits. Third point, locating the plant elsewhere, such as north of 401, would result in Tomlinson having to truck stone from further distances either through or around Napanee. And the last point, Tomlinson has currently and has previously operated what’s known as a portable asphalt plant at that quarry.”
One question asked was how many jobs the plant would bring to the community.
“I can tell you that the operation of an asphalt plant, typically three full-time, permanent employees would be at the asphalt plant,” said Rob Pierce, senior vice president of planning and development with Tomlinson Ltd. “Of course there would be spin off jobs that would go both during construction and then also for regular maintenance of the plant, your electricians, welders that sort of stuff. I think it would also be normal to expect that there will spin off jobs in the construction sector that would come as results of this as well.”
A follow up question asked what economic benefits the plant would bring to the town.
“I’m not really sure how to answer that other than to suggest that for the local economy there would be a new source of close to market asphalt for the businesses and contractors within the Napanee area and that would probably then hopefully spin down to those who are doing construction or home improvement projects, they’ll have access to that material,” said Pierce.
Another question focused on what kind of impact the plant would have on property values and whether Tomlinson would reimburse homeowners should their property value decrease in the wake of the permanent plant coming to town.
“I’m not aware of the decrease of local real estate market because of an asphalt plant, to suggest that we’d be willing to compensate people on that is not something that would be typical,” said Pierce. “I can state that in the market areas of Ottawa we have quarries and asphalt plants within sometimes not too dissimilar radiuses, just my own knowledge of the local real estate market the prices haven’t gone down they’ve gone in fact quite the opposite.”
When asked if odour from the plant would reach a home on Palace Road, the question was deferred to Emily Lau, an air quality engineer with Golder.
“We looked at naphthalene, and naphthalene is an indicator for odourous compounds,” said Lau. “The naphthalene criteria is a 10 minute averaging time. So we look at the worst possible concentration over a 10-minute period. The naphthalene predicted concentration that we assessed, that’s the combination of existing air quality plus the concentration contribution from the proposed plant, was less than three per cent of the criteria….It’s unlikely that there would be odours at that property.”
Blasting done at the quarry has also been a concern, with several people asking about the damage it causes to their property when the blasts. One resident said a recent blast caused frames to fall off a shelf in his home on Heritage Park Drive, approximately 2.6 km from the site.
“The levels that have been established by the ministry are not below the levels that we as humans will perceive the blast,” said Michael Cyr, a blasting and explosive engineer with Explotech, which Tomlinson contracts to do blasting at the site. “So we’re not trying to eliminate the fact that you’ll notice a blast happened. We’re effectively trying to ensure that there will be no damage to your property. At the levels established by the Ministry of the Environment, there is no risk of damage to adjacent properties. That’s our ultimate goal. We can not eliminate the perception, but we can eliminate the possibility of damage.”
Dave Rogers, who submitted the question, disagreed.
“I’m not sure how my picture frames falling off a shelf during a blast as the site is ‘my perception’, as Tomlinson suggested,” Rogers said.
Though the question and answer session was extended half an hour longer than originally scheduled to fit in more questions, not every one was addressed. Some, such as ‘will you listen to the citizens of Napanee if the majority do not want an asphalt plant in the proposed location?’ were noted as a comment by the facilitator. Those marked as comments were said that they would be brought back to Tomlinson as feedback.
“It’s pretty clear Tomlinson want to talk about compliance and obligation, not much empathy or emotion offered to legitimate resident concerns,” Casey Wells, who lives near the proposed site and founded the Facebook group Greater Napanee Residents Against the Asphalt Plant, told the Beaver. The group is comprised of 661 members. “It is also clear they intend to proceed with operations despite objections. Residents look forward to having a more fulsome conversation where the developer does not control the narrative.”
Greater Napanee council has stated the town will host a public information session with Tomlinson before any decision is made on the application. That meeting is yet to be scheduled.
“What is also clear is the official plan, which was quoted several times, has been used against residents,” added Wells. “Revision of the (official plan) is badly needed to embrace how the community has evolved. The (official plan) should not be used as a tool against the will of the people who reside in Napanee.”