(Deadline for sending letters to Chief Inspector of Mines & Developer has been extended to March 8. See links in top right corner of webpage for more information.)
The Steelhead Community Association will be going before Mayor and Council on Monday Feb 4th at 6 pm at Mission City Hall, to speak about the community’s opposition to the Thomas Avenue mining application. Residents opposed to the mining application are encouraged to also attend the meeting to show their support for opposition to the proposal.
January 31, 2013
The Legal Notice on page 30 of the January 24, 2013, edition of the Mission Record gives notice pursuant to the Mines Act of a Notice of Application for a mining permit for a proposed sand and gravel mine located at 33105 Thomas Avenue in Steelhead. A copy of this permit application is available for public viewing at the Mission Public Library.
Any person affected by or interested in this program has 30 days from January 24, 2013, to make written representation before Friday, March 8, 2013 (previously February 22), to:
The Chief Inspector of Mines
Ministry of Energy and Mines
c/o Mining and Minerals Division
Southwest Region
PO Box 9395
Station Provincial Government
Victoria, BC V8W 9M9
Email: Southwestdivision@gov.bc.ca
With a copy to:
Dean Hodgson
3105 Thomas Avenue
Mission, BC
V4S 1L4
This is a provincial issue with the Ministry of Mines and the considerations of the local community are encouraged and valid in the application process. In other words, you are counted. Therefore it is very important that you send any concerns you may have in writing to the Chief Inspector of Mines for the Southwest Region well within the 30 day time frame. You are in no way obligated to provide us with a copy of your submission; however, sharing these details with us can assist in promoting your concerns and properly representing the values of the community.
The application, as it stands, notes that gravel will be extracted and removed by truck from the property, but it will not be manufactured, processed, or crushed on the property.
Local concerns could include the following:
- The application notes a proposed extraction volume of 477,000 cubic meters over 4 years.
- The District of Mission Staff Report of Mike Younie, posted on the DoM website agenda, remarks that this is a considerable amount of aggregate in that 60,000 cubic meters were removed from the two main operating pits in Mission in all of 2012.
- Mike Younie further notes that approximately 40 tandem axle dump trucks daily would be required to remove this volume of material.
- The application notes that the hours of operation would be Monday to Saturday 8 am – 5 pm.
- Noise management concerns as noise travels down the valleys; Water table concerns; Traffic management concerns; Road safety concerns; Road maintenance concerns; Dust management concerns; Visual concerns; Further gravel extraction development concerns.
- There has been no information provided to the community concerning this application.
- This is not in keeping with the flavour of our residential community and would drastically affect our chosen lifestyles and day to day life, our values and why we chose to live in this unique neighbourhood, as well as compromising the health and safety of our community.
- We already have a number of well established gravel pits within and local to our community and which is a very satisfactory source for the needs for aggregate for our community as well as other local communities.
We encourage your feedback and look forward to hearing from you either through the community website or let us know by dropping a note in the Community Suggestion Box at the bulletin board on Cardinal Street at Ainsworth. Your voice counts. Whether you support, oppose, or are in between, please let us know what you think.
Steelhead Community Association
Board of Directors
