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September 30, 1999
Jeff Bower
Brock Citizen
390 Simcoe St., Box 10
Beaverton, ON, L0K 1A0
Dear Editor,
In response to your article in the September 29,
1999 issue of The Brock Citizen, I would like to clarify some points.
First and foremost, I and those working with me
to protect the Wilfrid Bog, are not looking to shut down the peat
operation as stated within your article. Although it is obvious that
the members of The Task Force For The Preservation Of The Wilfrid Bog
is extremely unhappy over the landowners decision to disregard the
protections on this property, our attempts to preserve this very
special piece of Ontario is not an attempt to harm the viable
business of the peat extractor. Pefferlaw Peat Products employees
many persons within our community and is respected by many. It is
unfortunate that peat moss fails to be a sustainable or renewable
resource and that Pefferlaw Peat Products is forced to find an
alternative source of peat, now that the NE section is almost
depleted, after being MINED (not farmed, as stated in your article)
for 45+ years. The Task Force holds no animosities against the
landowner. We are simply requesting that the environmental policies,
laws and regulations applying to the SE section of the bog be
enforced. We have represented the public's interest on the
preservation of this SE property for the past 20 years and this will
be the third major violation of these policies and regulations upon
this acreage by Pefferlaw Peat Products. This is old news.
The recent news and indeed the real news that
transpired at this council meeting is excluded entirely from your
article. This is the case of a missing amendment that was quickly
mentioned by our council at this meeting. An amendment that due to a
negligent act by our 1993 council, may lead to the loss of this
Environmentally Protected (EP) property to and individual who feels
he has found a ‘loop-hole' within Brock's EP zoning laws,
stating, as mentioned within your article, that there are no zoning
restrictions on peat removal upon his property. My only response to
the new landowner of the property would be to ask him where within
the EP zoning bylaw does it say that peat removal is allowed and
where does it state that one can enter an EP property and start
damaging the environment to remove peat without proper application or
zoning revisions. Durham Region's Planning Office appears to stand
beside the Task Force on this opinion and is in disagreement with
Brock Township on the matter and feels that no amendment is necessary
and that Pefferlaw Peat Products is in contravene of the townships
bylaws and most definitely Durham Region's Official Plan. This is
what the lawyers from Brock Township and Durham Region will be
investigating before any action is taken.
Failing to make this amendment in 1993, to
secure all rare peat locations within Brock Township, is reflective
of councils decision in 1992 not to uphold ANY Regional Bylaws due to
our pressure for them to enforce the Regional Tree Conservation Bylaw
on the property at that time. Being such a short duration after a two
and a half year battle (1990-1993) over the issue, it hardly seems
possible that this amendment was forgotten. It does not take a fool
to realize the ramifications of this lack of action by our past
council or the implications the 1993 Brock Council may have left
themselves subjected to. In the mean time, Pefferlaw Peat Products,
now under new management and possibly within the right to claim
immunity to any changes applied today to the EP bylaws, continues to
mine the peat from an extremely rare glacial hilltop wetland that has
all the right environmental laws and regulations applied to it,
deeming it protected.
I believe that our council today, on this issue,
is capable of making decisions based on sound environmental fact and
not electoral opinion. Let us hope they do so. We need to take a
strong stand on this issue and not allow this bog to be lost due to
political follies.
For complete information on the issue, we have
developed a Web-site to keep all interested updated on the matter.
You can find us at www.millicentorchids.com/wilfrid or fly.to/wilfrid.
Kevin Tipson
Resident; Port Bolster |
