As you enjoy our sunny summer weather, we wanted to give you an update on the important work taking place to protect the Escarpment. Here are the answers to many of the questions we receive.

What’s happening at the hearings?
Joint Board Hearing (Ontario Municipal Board and Environmental Tribunal) on the Nelson Aggregate application for a new quarry on Mt Nemo

After over a year in pre-hearings, the actual hearings started in November 2010 and continued until mid June when they broke for the summer. Hearings will start again on August 22 and are expected to continue at least until December, but more likely until early 2012.

Nelson Aggregate’s lawyers and experts recently completed their presentation. Those opposing the application, i.e. the City of Burlington, Halton Region, Niagara Escarpment Commission, Conservation Halton and PERL, have started to present the opposing case. We will continue to present the reasons why another quarry on Mt Nemo would negatively affect this fragile ecosystem and our quality of life.

Obviously it is far too early to provide any kind of forecast as to the outcome of the hearings. However PERL has been encouraged by testimony such as that provided by Ray Blackport, PERL’s hydrogeology expert, who used Nelson’s own data to rebut its position and suggest that important wetlands adjacent to the proposed quarry would dry up if the quarry went ahead.

We are very appreciative of the small core of loyal PERL supporters who have attended the hearings (generally Monday-Thursday, 10 am-4 pm, at the Quality Inn on Bronte Road in Oakville) – thanks so much! Please consider coming for even an hour when the hearings start up again. More attendees would let the Hearing Officers know that the community cares about the land use on Mount Nemo – they identified community support as important to the final decision. We need your involvement – however limited!

Is land re-designation possible?

Incredibly, while the current designation of the area puts extraordinary limits on development by companies and individuals, aggregate mining can be exempted. For this reason, we at PERL are also working hard to have the designation for the area changed so that no quarrying would be allowed – initially for the proposed quarry lands, but eventually for the whole Mt Nemo plateau.

How’s the fundraising going?

We have managed to stay in the game thanks to successful musical events and your generous donations. In order to keep advocating for the Mount Nemo plateau community and environment, we need the immediate and broader communities to stand up for the protection of this precious area by continuing to support PERL. We hope to have more than one exciting event within the next few months, but in the meantime donations and purchases of the beautiful Mt Nemo print tell us that you care.

How is the Nemo 7G initiative coming along?

Under the PERL umbrella, Nemo 7G is group of community individuals whose mission is to gather broad-scale community input in order to form a seven-generation vision for the Mt Nemo plateau. The process has been very positively received, and supported by the City of Burlington and through a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Two public community sessions were held. At the first session in January, people recalled the history of the area and identified what makes it such a special place. The second session in February offered participants the opportunity to express their future vision of the area. While many people wanted to keep it the way it is, there were also lots of ideas of how the area could evolve ecologically, socially and economically.

In June, Nemo 7G organized Mt Nemo Day, an opportunity for the community to learn more about the area, through “open door” type visits to Lowville Park, Mt Nemo Conservation area, a local farm, a riding stable, a sculpture studio and to the Nelson quarry. Attendees provided new input into the Mount Nemo vision.

Community members tell their stories on video.

PERL has begun to post a series of video stories from members of our community on our Facebook page. Check the site regularly for more videos to come. We thank all those who participated in this project!

Where can I get updates on what’s happening?

PERL now has a very active Facebook page with over 1000 friends. Check it out and add your comments.

If you ever have any questions or would like to help out in any of our upcoming events, please contact us atperl@perlofburlington.org.

More updates to come. Stay tuned!

Your PERL Executive
perl@perlofburlington.org
PERL, Protecting Escarpment Rural Lands

Visit Lake Ontario Waterkeeper’s Nelson Blog here.