MJJJ Developments Inc. holds asphalt plant open house

Written By JOSHUA SANTOS

An open house was held for a proposed asphalt plant in Bolton on Thursday, Oct. 11.

Election candidates and community residents had the opportunity to view concept drawings at Caesar's Centre and speak with industry representatives. The location of the plant is expected to be at 12415 Coleraine Dr.

“Dig-Con approached us indicating they were planning on putting a new asphalt plant at this location. The one thing we did is we worked with them on their site design,” said Bridget Mills, senior environmental engineer for BCX Environmental Consulting. “We work with them to modify the site design. The asphalt plant is now at the rear of the property and enters on Simpson. What that does is it tries to put the asphalt plant away from sensitive receptors. They know that's people's houses. That was the first part of the process that we did. With that site design, we then did a quantitative model of the air emissions to demonstrate that, that design could meet the Ministry's requirements.”

The plant is proposed by MJJJ Developments Inc., a subsidiary of Dig-Con International Ltd. Dig-Con also owns Estateview Homes, DiGregorio International Paving and Construction Ltd. and DiGregorio Investments Ltd. They are headquartered in Bolton. 

The proposal has the plant taking up the east side of Coleraine Drive, south of George Bolton Parkway and Parr Boulevard. It is planned to include a two-storey, 1042 square metre office building.

It will undergo three phases. First, zoning must be granted, then the site plan has to be approved and finally the Ministry of Environment has to authorize it.

“Through those various processes, either the Town (of Caledon) or Region (of Peel) can put additional conditions on the plant, the Ministry can put additional conditions on the plant; so, it's a good iterating process,” said Mills.

Mills is the air quality consultant for Dig-Con. She says they've done air quality studies to support the zoning application. She said once zoning is approved, the studies will go to the Ministry of Environment to obtain an operating permit. 

“Our job is to do the technical study for air quality to demonstrate that the plant can operate in the neighbourhood and meet the Ministry's standards,” said Mills. “That study is currently with the Town of Caledon and the Region (of Peel) and they're going to have our work peer reviewed by a third-party peer reviewer and that will help them make the decision on zoning. If the zoning goes ahead, our job will be to put the application in on behalf of Dig-Con to the Ministry of Environment.”

“What we've been able to demonstrate is that the plant will meet the Ministry's air quality standards, and they'll actually meet them at the property line. Air quality impacts will be lower for residents because it drops off with distance.”

Parm Chohan, Town of Caledon spokesperson confirmed they have received and circulated the applications for review to amend the Official Plan and Zoning-Bylaw in accordance with the Planning Act.

“The open house was arranged by the applicant and owner without discussion with Town staff. A formal public meeting and open house under the Planning Act will

be scheduled and communicated once the newly elected Council begins regular meetings, said Chohan in an email interview.

“The land-use proposed for this property is not permitted in the Town's Official Plan or Zoning By-law; as a result, the applicant is seeking to amend the Official Plan and Zoning By-law. As part of the applicant's complete application requirements they were required to submit traffic, air quality, urban design and noise reports. These materials are currently under review by the Town and other agencies.”

Mills said they have addressed public concerns of dust and odour nuisance by developing a fugitive dust and odour management plan.

“Those plans are also going to be reviewed by the town, the region and the peer reviewer. The plans themselves will also go to the Ministry of Environment for them to review and comment on, said Mills. The purpose of those plans is to put measures in place to manage the potential for nuisance impacts like nuisance dust and nuisance odours offsite.”

Documents from Dig-Con reveal dust emissions will predominantly occur from traffic movement of heavy-duty vehicles, especially from unpaved roads.

Traffic will be limited to 10 kilometres an hour and trucks will use the shortest dedicated routes.

The main source of odour is identified through asphalt cement storage tanks, mixing, storage silos, trucks transportation and material spills. These have a low to medium likelihood to result in off-site impacts.

Odour will be managed in many ways. Asphalt cement delivery is scheduled during week-days during periods of least impact to most neighbours, temperature of asphalt cement delivery and storage will be maintained and tanks will be filled in a controlled manner to minimize the potential for spills and to manage filling losses – the release of air in the empty space inside the tank, according to Dig Con documents.

Noise and traffic consultants were not in attendance, however Mills said they have completed similar studies looking at noise impacts and traffic patterns.

“I think what might be interesting and important to the neighbours is the major truck traffic enters through Simpson and are not driving past close houses that are on Coleraine,” said Mills.

Mills said the noise study demonstrated a compliance with the Ministry of Environment's noise guidelines.

The Town of Caledon has made all studies and reports online at https://www.caledon.ca/en/townhall/mjjj-developments-inc---asphalt-plant-.asp