'A cloud over the town': residents oppose 2nd quarry

People in Estey's Bridgehave trouble enough with one rock quarry, says the chair of the local service district. A second quarry would be unbearable.

It's dust and dirt and you name it. It creates anxiety for people and devalues ourproperties dramatically.- Robin Anderson, Estey's Bridge local service district

Robin Anderson of theEstey's Bridge local service district saysthe quality of life for people living nearby changed dramatically after a rock quarry was established three years ago.

What was once a countryside of fields and forest,fox, deer and other wildlife was turned over to quarryingdespite opposition from residents, he said.

And notmuch has happened since then to change residents' minds.

"It's dust and dirt and you name it," he told Information Morning Fredericton. "It creates anxiety for people and devalues ourproperties dramatically."

He was joined by David Duplessis, chair of the Douglas local service commission, to discussopposition to rezoning more land to allow a second quarry.

Residents of both York County communities attended a public meeting this week to share their concerns.

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Andersonsaid the area was initially rezoned as agravel pit because there's noactualrock quarry zoning in place, although the two are not the same.

"It's ahumongousdifference if it's just a normal gravel pit," he said."It's just too much for the residents."

Douglas residents, especially along Carlisle Road, know what it's like to live witha quarry,said Duplessis.

"The Douglas residents on Carlisle especially, they've had to put up with the rock quarry in the late sixties, seventies and eighties that was on the Carlisle Road," he said.

"It was also noisy, dusty, and when it was finally shut down, there's a huge eyesore in the landscape," he said. "It's awful what's left there."

GeoffColter, head of Springhill Infrastructure, could not be reached for comment about the company's quarry proposal.

Gathering reaction

Anderson said the new quarry would be similar to the one that's already therebutperhaps bigger.

"A lot of the properties have already been purchased by the people involved in this quarry business," he said.

The Department of Environment and Local Government is accepting written comments about the quarry until June 27, and Anderson suggested they're reflect the same concerns.

"It's five, sixdays a week and starts eight to 10 hours a day, dust and noise and trucks and blasting," he said. "You name it, it's there.

"It's a cloud over the town."

He said the solution to the dispute would either be tomove residents who can't tolerate the quarry's effects or move the quarry that's there and refuse permission for a new one.

"It's just too much to bear," he said.