Aggregate Permit Conditions / Site Plan Notes. Lands & Waters Aggregate & Petroleum Resources March 15, 2006

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1 Subject: Policy No.: New: Ministry of Natural Resources Ministère des Richesses naturelles Aggregate Permit / Site Plan Notes A.R Yes Compiled by Branch: Section: Date Issued: Lands & Waters Aggregate & Petroleum Resources March 15, 2006 Guiding Principles The Minister may issue an aggregate permit subject to any condition that is deemed necessary and may, at any time, add, rescind or vary a condition of a permit once it has been issued. Every permittee is required to operate the permitted site in accordance with all permit conditions and the site plan. Permit conditions include all conditions placed on the permit or attached as a schedule. For the purpose of this policy, the provisions of the site plan will not be discussed except for the tonnage restrictions and hours of operation. All new permits have mandatory conditions, pursuant to the Aggregate Resources of Ontario Provincial Standards, as Prescribed. The Prescribed apply to all permits issued after 1997, and cannot be varied or altered at any time. The Prescribed would be applied to permits issued prior to 1997, only where a new permit application is required to increase the physical size of the permit area (i.e. expansion of the site). In addition to Prescribed, other conditions may be placed on any permit at the time of issuing or during the term of a permit. These conditions may have resulted from recommendations of supporting consultant s reports (e.g. Natural Environment, Hydrogeological or Cultural Heritage reports), public or agency concerns, including MNR, or conditions proposed by the applicant to address concerns/issues. While Prescribed cannot be removed or altered, all other conditions may be added, varied or rescinded. These changes to the conditions of a permit may be imposed by the Minister or requested by the permittee (see A.R ). Policy Act 37(1) may be used to provide necessary additional controls on the pit or quarry operation. All conditions placed on a permit should only address matters directly relating to the site, the operation and/or rehabilitation of the site. relating to haulage routes may be considered in some instances, however, in general, the applicant should negotiate road use and maintenance matters with the appropriate road authority outside the permitting process. In addition to the Prescribed that apply to permits, the site plan must establish hours of operation and the maximum amount of material to be extracted annually, if the permit is not to be unlimited in production. For quick reference purposes, these conditions may also appear on the permit as a Schedule B. Policy A.R Page 1 of 5

2 Additional In addition to Prescribed on a permit, other conditions may be necessary to provide additional controls on a permitted site. In assessing the appropriate conditions to be placed on a new permit, MNR should review and consider the following sources: a) comments provided from municipalities, MNR and other agencies received during the notification and consultation period; b) concerns raised by the public during the notification and consultation period; and c) recommendations and conclusions of any supporting reports or studies. Wording of Permit conditions should be concise and free from ambiguity. Permit conditions (and site plan notes) must apply exclusively to the permittee and must be practical and legally enforceable by MNR. The conditions and notes should not imply or state that the Ministry is a party to any agreement between other parties. resulting from comments or recommendations derived from any circulation of the application should be carefully reviewed for their wording, effectiveness, and intent. Requirements of the Act or regulations should not appear as permit conditions. Placement of All permit conditions should appear as a Schedule to the Permit. The permit states "This Permit is subject to the conditions attached as Schedule B. The Schedule must state the date, the permit number, and the permittee s name in addition to the conditions. Each condition is individually numbered in the Schedule. Where additional conditions, in addition to the Prescribed, are to be included on the permit, it is recommended that two Schedules be attached to the permit labeled Schedule A and Schedule B. Schedule A will contain all of the Prescribed and Schedule B will show any additional conditions resulting from the application process. This presentation of the schedules will avoid any confusion as to which conditions cannot be rescinded or varied (prescribed) and which conditions may be subject to removal or variation. Tonnage The tonnage condition of a permit, even if unlimited, must appear on the site plan. However, it may also appear on the permit as a condition. The wording must be identical. There is no requirement to restrict annual production levels on permits. However, tonnage restrictions may be considered when the size of the operation and any related impacts become an issue and can be effectively dealt with through a limitation on annual production. One of the purposes of the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA) is to minimize adverse impact on the environment in respect of aggregate operations. Because of on-site operations and transportation of aggregate products from a site, a number of impacts can negatively affect both municipal roads and residents who live in the vicinity of pits and quarries or along haul routes. Policy A.R Page 2 of 5

3 A permit condition limiting annual production may be one means of preventing or mitigating one or more negative impacts. However, alternative measures enforceable through regulation, site plan requirements, permit conditions or other legislation should also be considered. A tonnage limit should be considered as a condition on a permit where: a) a tonnage limit is clearly essential to mitigate negative effects of a pit or quarry, including truck traffic, on nearby land uses and local municipal roads, and where such negative effects cannot be mitigated by alternative measures; or b) a specific tonnage limit has been recommended by one of the supporting studies or reports (e.g. the natural environment report); or c) the applicant has proposed an annual tonnage limit (Note: this would be by the applicant's own volition in an attempt to alleviate concerns/objections). Blasting When dealing with a building stone operation where there will be no blasting of the rock, a condition must be added to the licence indicating that no blasting will occur on site. The condition must appear as a schedule B and the following wording should be used to avoid confusion with what the Prescribed state regarding blasting in a quarry. Example for a Category 11 Schedule B condition: Notwithstanding section 3.11, 3.12 and 3.13 on Schedule A, the permittee is not required to adhere to these conditions, since there will be no blasting on site during the life of the quarry operation. Posting of Signs Two conditions with respect to posting of the site must be set out in a Schedule B. They are: a) erect and maintain a visible sign, indicating that this site is permitted under the Aggregate Resources Act permit #, at the main entrance and exit to and from the site; the sign must be at least 0.5 metres by 0.5 metres in size; and b) erect and maintain a visible sign, indicating No Trespassing, Danger Open Excavation at the main entrance and exit to and from the site; the sign must be at least 0.5 metres by 0.5 metres in size. Operating Hours Operating hours for permits must appear on the site plan. This condition may also appear as a condition on the permit. The main impact that can be mitigated by establishing operating hours, is noise derived from the operation of the site itself or from generated truck traffic. When evaluating the necessity of limiting the hours of operation, one should take into consideration the following factors; proximity to a sensitive land use, operational design, prevailing winds, natural or man made buffers and setbacks. Policy A.R Page 3 of 5

4 Haul Routes The regulation of haul routes is a matter that may be considered for permit conditions or site plan notes under the ARA. However, due to potential difficulties with overlapping jurisdictions and enforcement concerns, this should only be considered where it is clearly necessary and is subject to the following considerations: a) Consultation with, and consideration of, the comments of the applicable road authorities is imperative; b) Generally, conditions or site plan notes should be limited to controlling the direction of truck traffic as it enters or leaves the site, and normally should be limited to the designation of one or two routes before joining a regional or provincial highway; and c) The control of haul routes is to be limited to providing instructional signage on site. The construction, maintenance and upgrading of external (off-site) haul routes are not to be regulated under the ARA. In general, in evaluating individual impacts and considering appropriate conditions on a permit, factors that may be taken into consideration include: a) number of sensitive land uses; b) proximity of other land uses; c) intensity of impact; d) duration of impact; e) timing of impact; f) prevailing winds; g) conflicting land uses; h) setbacks and/or buffers; and i) operational design. The following table identifies common concerns relating to aggregate operations and lists some possible mitigative measures that may be considered as conditions to the permit. Note that many of the impacts described below are addressed by the Prescribed dictated by the Provincial Standards. IMPACT DESCRIPTION POSSIBLE MITIGATIVE MEASURES NOISE Truck traffic Designate haul routes On-site equipment Urethane/rubber screens on processing equipment Enclose processing equipment including pressurized "bag-houses" Retain natural topographical barriers Phasing and direction of mining sequence Product stockpiles to shield plant Special mufflers on equipment Policy A.R Page 4 of 5

5 IMPACT DESCRIPTION POSSIBLE MITIGATIVE MEASURES DUST Truck traffic Pave internal roads and/or haul routes Water, calcium or other MOE approved dust retardant on roads Designate haul routes On-site equipment Spray-bars on processing equipment Enclose processing equipment Foaming agents ("liquid tarp" for stockpiles) SAFETY Road deterioration Designate haul routes Traffic congestion Designate haul routes Turning lanes AESTHETICS Progressive rehabilitation Limit maximum disturbed area Mining sequence/design DRILLING / BLASTING Vibration, dust, noise Blast design Blast frequency Blast monitoring Enclose drilling equipment Requirements of Other MNR Programs or Agency s Legislation The issuance of a permit does not preclude the permittee from meeting the requirements of, or obtaining approval under, other statutes or regulations. For example, the permittee must still obtain approval under the Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act for the diversion of a water body; meet the minimum noise requirements of the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) under the Environmental Protection Act; and/or meet the safety standards of the Ministry of Labour (MOL) under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. A permit that is subject to the Prescribed, makes reference to requirements/approvals (e.g. Certificate of Approval (C of A) for off-site discharge or processing equipment, Spills Contingency Program, Permit to Take Water) issued by other agencies (e.g. MOE). Where the Prescribed are attached to a permit, MNR must ensure that copies of these approvals are on file for reference, however MNR s role is solely to ensure that any required approvals, have been obtained and not to enforce specific conditions attached to the approval instrument. The approval agency is responsible for enforcing the specific conditions attached to the instrument (e.g. C of A, Permit to Take Water). Policy A.R Page 5 of 5