A La Broquerie resident is seeking approval from council to open a gravel pit operation.

Cottonwood Holsteins, in partnership with Diamond Construction, are looking to open a gravel pit at the corner of Provincial Road 303 and Ekron-Oswald Road. Brent Oswald from Cottonwood Holsteins along with Doug Hamm and Sheldon Reimer from Diamond Construction came before council Wednesday morning to present their proposal and there were several residents of the area who attended and voiced their concerns.

Oswald says he wasn't sure when the 111.73 acres of land last made a profit and wants to make sure he's being economically profitable and providing for his young family.

Reeve Lewis Weiss says those resident concerns ranged from road dust control to noise to health concerns from gravel pit dust, road maintenance, and property values.

"It would have been good to see the gravel mined out of this pit 20 years ago but maybe nobody was aware of what was there," notes Weiss. "A resident mentioned maybe, instead, turn it into a development. Unfortunately, if the province knows there's gravel there we are not allowed to make a development until the gravel deposits are exhausted, are removed from the area."

Weiss adds while it would have been nice to have the gravel extracted 20 years ago when there wasn't the residential development there is now, in another 20 years there will only be additional development and more residential impact.

About 15 residents of the area were in attendance, five of which voiced their concerns to council.

The first presentation from George Braun, he says he likes to sit outside in the summer but because of dust and noise this may not be possible and notes there needs to be someone who holds Diamond Construction responsible for how much noise they create, how long the noise lasts, and the amount of dust created.

Darryl Burke made a presentation and stated he has a positive and neighbourly relationship with the Oswald's and hopes to continue that, despite the concerns he has over this business venture.

"We understand that living in community requires all parties to make allowances and adjustments for small irritations and infringements on privacy," notes Burke during the meeting on Wednesday. "But the development of a gravel pit can have major ramifications to surrounding properties. Our chief concern is the amount and type of dust that such an operation will produce. We know that excavation of aggregate crushing and screening process produce dust emissions that result in both immediate and potential permanent respiratory consequences. As a requirement of my employment, I must maintain a clear medical certificate. We are concerned that due to our close proximity large dust particles and more serious silica particles in the air may increase the risk of respiratory difficulties for our entire family and potentially jeopardize my ability to secure [a clear medical]."

A third resident, Julia Frank, agreed the dust particles from the aggregate was a concern. 

"You can change your air filters in your furnace as much as you can and your cooling system, but you can never change your lungs."

Diamond Construction was able to address the issues of noise control with their daily hours of operation, road maintenance with their contribution to road upkeep, and being flexible on issues of road access. They mentioned it will take five to ten years to extract all the gravel content out of the land, at which point the land will be filled and restored to be used as agricultural land.

Weiss adds, "a lot of people did come forward with concerns and the decision was tabled."

He says council will meet with Diamond Construction and then have a resolution on whether or not to approve the gravel pit, hopefully, at their next regular council meeting of May 9.