I would like to tell you our Story:
I retired in 2000 and we lived in a nice small
We lived here for eight years until we decided to move back to Ontario. This was a very fatal mistake.
We were looking for a home when the winter storms were going on in 2007-2008. We were looking at a house in Denbigh but we were unable to see it because someone in the family was sick. So I called the realtor who had the home listed and said she could show it to me. So we went to where her office was. We went to see the house in Denbigh. It had too many problems for me structural, and it was too noisy from truck traffic so we said no. We never did see the other one that we wanted to see she said the lady was from Toronto Quebec
This is the email.
Hello Ken & Jeanine, It was a pleasure meeting you yesterday. I am sending along this property which you have probably seen True, it's a pretty basic smallish bungalow but it does have a garage though it's not cleared whether the basement is full and partly finished because sometimes it means that's it's a part basement that's partly finished! It is located on a paved road but it's more local and cottage traffic certainly not like Hwy 7 or 41. I can't remember what neighbours you can see though I am sure there is a church kitty corner to it. There are lots of lakes, of course. Talk to you soon! Regards
I didn’t look at it right away I still wanted to look. After a few inquires she sends this to me.
Hello Ken,
That little house on Rd. 509 might be looking better and better ($124,900). Nothing new on the home front but I will see if there is more info on that white bungalow. Will get to the article when I am not being such a big, rich hotshot!
That little house on Rd. 509 might be looking better and better ($124,900). Nothing new on the home front but I will see if there is more info on that white bungalow. Will get to the article when I am not being such a big, rich hotshot!
This just got me more curious and it wasn’t a house we had asked to see but one she wanted us to see.
So we went to see the two houses Jeanine wanted to see. The one house was a mess so we went to see the house in Snow Road Station. It was as she described but there was a possibility to make it even better just needed some TLC. When we went outside someone else came in to look at the house which we did not understand since we thought that this was a private showing and now we felt pressured to make an offer. The view was nice and the owners were right there so I asked the realtor if I could negotiate right then and there. She said yes and my wife asked her if she should start a bid at $107,000. The realtor said that that would be an insult so we upped the price to $120,000 and they accepted the offer. This was March 12/08. So now we had a house and we needed to get back to Quebec
When we came up the 509 and got to the Church are mouths hit the floor. What was under the snow that we could not see was a sand and gravel pit. I looked at my wife and said we just bought swampland in Canada
Our View
Our View
Later that year some trucks came in and took some gravel right in front of us 300 ft. from the front door.
We had called the realtor about this and asked why she didn’t tell us about this she said she did and was going to stop in. She never had to this day. We spoke to the previous owners of the property who were there when we viewed the house about this and why no one said anything. They said there was nothing going on when they bought it at an auction. They have lived in the area for over 20 yrs. We tried to make the best of a bad situation and started to fix the house up. We were told local traffic and cottagers nothing about a gravel pit.
We decided to look into the matter and downloaded a zoning map from the township. On the map it showed this as a residential lot. We made an enquiry with the township.
The Email
The Email
From: Ken Cressey]
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 1:05 AM
To: Subject:pit Snow Road Station
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 1:05 AM
To: Subject:pit Snow Road Station
Hello ************
Do you have any news on what we discussed pertaining to Crain's Pit on Zoning , Progressive Rehabilitation, Site Plan. Have you spoken to the Ministry of The Environment . One other Question does the Township have a stake in this property which is approximately 60 feet from this property?
Ken & Jeanine Cressey
Hi Ken and Jeanine
My apologies for not responding earlier. I checked into the Zoning of theCrain's Pit as our present Zoning By-law 15-04 designates it as ‘Hamlet’ under which pits are not permitted. However, as the pit was there prior to By-law 15-04 I looked into the previous By-law for the former Township of Palmerston Palmerston Township Palmerston Township
I have not spoken with the Ministry of Environment, however I did speak with the MNR Aggregate Representative, and he did not see there was an infraction with the manner in which this pit was being managed. You may wish to contact him to satisfy yourself, and ask questions which I may not have asked. He can be contacted via e-mail ***********
Your last question, I am not sure what property you are referring to, being 60 feet from the Crain's pit? Please let me know. Thanks, *******
I looked into the purchase date and found it was purchased in 1987 after Palmerston township, even if an existing pit was located there why were no zoning amendments made. (I spoke to a long time resident who told me there was no pit on the property the actual pit was outside the Hamlet.)
I spoke to the MNR in Feb. 2009
Letter to and from the M.N.R.
13/02/2009
13/02/2009
Dear Sir
I am Writing to you in regards to a conversation with ******* ******* ****** **************** for the Township . They have sent me an Email telling me that you saw no infractions with the site. Sir I am a new resident of this community and this pit in question is right in front of my home. From my property line across the road to his fence it is approximately 60 feet. My intention is not to cause problems for Crain or the Township but to find some equitable way to have the sites appearance brought up to standard. I have worked in many pits and quarries in the Niagara Peninsula and they don't look like this. There is no burm, no trees except one maple that stands alone directly in front of my house. They took a nice sloping hill and just tore it up. When I purchased this house about eight months ago the site was covered in snow lots of snow you could not tell there was a pit located there. There were no signs anywhere that stated a pit operation or owner or even a licence# located on the property identifying it as a pit. I have seen atv's using the pit as a obstacle course, in the summer of 2008 when high winds would come we would have sand all over our vehicle and I am not saying that all the sand is coming directly from his site but I am sure some of it is. They don't work the pit on a daily basis but only occasionally. That in itself is disturbing enough. I would like to see the site brought up to a point where the property running along the road 509 is landscaped and trees planted for a screen. I have read the brochure entitled Pit & Quarry Rehabilitation The state of the art in Ontario. I strongly agree with the opening statements made by D.F. Hewitt and M.A. Vos. and I am trying to remedy my concerns in a fair and equitable manner. I would like to ask you when you last visited this site and what your opinion was. I know what ********* told me but I would rather have you state the sites condition. Perhaps in the spring you could visit the site and we could discuss my concerns over a coffee.
Ken & Jeanine Cressey
M.N.R reply
Dear Mr. Mrs. Cressey,
Thank you for your email of concern regarding the Crain's Construction pit in Snow Road Station.
Back in 2007 the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA) was designated in this area. The ARA required existing operators of pits and quarries to apply to be grandfathered into a licence. Prior to the ARA designation it was the local Municipality in control of the operations through the zoning by-laws. Crain's applied for a licence, met all the application requirements, and received a licence back in 2007 for the existing pit in question.
The requirement of operators to construct tree screens and perimeter berms is not controlled by the ARA or Provincial Standards but through the site plan. The site plan for a pit is normally drafted and approved by this Ministry in a licence application while the site is virgin. The operator often chooses to add site screening on the site plan as a consideration to the impact on existing local landowners. The practice of screening has become common place in new applications for pits and quarries in Ontario
However the operator is still bound by the ARA, Provincial Standards, and a site plan (when submitted and approved).
For further information of licensees requirements a current copy of the ARA can be found at the link below:
And the Ontario Provincial Standards can be found at the link below:
I personally have visited this site for matters related to the licence application and have not completed a formal licence audit of the site yet. This licensee is required to erect a sign at each entrance and exit to the site and to keep dust down to a minimum. I will notify the licensee of these deficiencies and have them corrected.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss this matter in further detail, please contact me.
Yours truly,
Later in the spring the Township wanted to sell a right of way to the Gravel pit owners 'as it turns out there are two gravel pits not one located there one behind another' the right of way separates them. We saw the advertisement in the local paper and inquired at the township about the matter. We were told we could object to this since it would have a direct impact on our home and us.
The Email To Council
Mayor & Council
I would like to bring to your attention our concerns about the Extraction Agreement re aggregate pit at Snow Road
We believe that if the road allowance is opened between the Gemill Pit and the Crain's Pit it would exacerbate the problem with noise and dust.
Our home is directly across the pit on the 509, which we already have issues with, which have not been resolved yet.
We believe that if the road allowance is removed, that the dust and noise from Gemill Pit would funnel down through the area directly to our home, increasing the amount of dust and noise.
We would like an environmental assessment done prior to the extraction agreement, since this would have a direct impact on our home and our quality of life.
Sincerely, Ken & Jeanine Cressey
Shortly after this was submitted to council we received a phone call from the Mayor. He told us that there was nothing he could do and that he had talked to their lawyers.
The owner of the gravel pit Wilburt Crain heard of our complaining and stopped to talk to us. We asked him if he would put in a berm; his reply was “nope that will cost me money”. So we asked for trees for the screen and he said that he could do that. The trees he put in were 2 to 3 feet high! A joke....I will be dead by the time they gain any height. We asked why he had no sign anywhere on the property saying who owned it and he said it was stolen. We told him he was depreciating our property and his justification was that his home is also beside a pit. We then asked about the noise and dust. He said he would mitigate the adverse effects with water or calcium chloride.
'In the time that followed we never saw him once use water or calcium to take care of the dust'.
At the end of April, beginning of May 2009, the company began working in the gravel pit.
They were hauling material from the site. This is where everything started going wrong concerning my health. The trucks were creating dust when they were coming and going from the site.
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