The MD of Willow Creek Municipal Planning Commission approved a sand and gravel extraction operation east of Stavely.
The decision came at the MPC’s June 12 meeting after they reviewed the application from the municipality. and land owners Connie Bonetti and Bernie Johnson at a portion of SE-14-14-25-4.
The operation sits on 33.26 acres or 13.46 hectares, and is a Class II resource extraction operation of 0.93 acres, or 0.37 hectares.
It was noted council redesignated 33.26 acres of the titled 38.10-acre parcel at SE-14-14-25-4, and 0.93 acres of the titled 159.83 acre parcel to rural industrial.
The proposed Class II resource extraction operation will be under five hectares, it will not require an Alberta Environment registration.
If expansion to a Class I pit is proposed in the future, pursuant to provincial legislation, a Class I pit is subject to the code of practice for pits and would be required to obtain registration from Alberta Environment.
A new development application would also be required for an expansion in the future.
It was also pointed out director of infrastructure Craig Pittman submitted details for proposed development.
The active pit area is 4.9 hectares, with ground water more than three metres deep from the surface in all locations that were tested.
The level is unknown, should it be discovered, and operations will maintain a minimum one-metre buffer.
Regarding surface drainage, there will be sheds pre-development throughout the parcel as it is a hill, while post-development is contained within the pit area.
There are no drainage courses or waterbodies within the proposed area.
Storm water will be managed with runoff being contained within the pit floor.
A 50,000-tonne stockpile of road surfacing aggregate will be stockpiled at the south end of the pit for the first five years. Following this, the stockpile will be in the pit bottom.
Topsoil will be stockpiled on the north east area of the site; and the overburden stockpile will be next to the topsoil stockpile, with all stockpile heights to be under eight metres.
The access road will be from the southwest of the proposed pit area, which connects to a constructed access road, then to Township Road 142.
Stripping will take place every 15 years, and the crushing of 50,000 tonnes will take place every five years
It will be a one month to process, with crushing operations from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The aggregate is exclusively for municipal purposes, and processing will begin at the south and continue to the north.
The size of the storage site, including overburden and topsoil stockpiles will be under five hectares within the pit boundary.
No washing of aggregate is proposed, and dust control will be managed by utilizing a water truck as required.
Pit operations will maintain the appropriate offsets to Little Bow River and the valley crest. Operations will maintain the required 3.5-metre buffer from the property line as required in the code of practice for pits.
The MD of Willow Creek’s agricultural service department will manage the re-vegetation, weed and pest control throughout the duration of the pit operations.
Crushing equipment will be inspected by agricultural services to ensure compliance.
Operations will follow the “Recommended Land Use Guidelines: Key Wildlife and Biodiversity Zones”, while reclamation will be by public works and agricultural service board staff, as per the code of practice for pits.
The agriculture service board will ensure the revegetation is acceptable.
The proposed access road is to be located within a portion of SW14-14-25-4 and will meet MD of Willow Creek standards.
The access road will be maintained by the municipality and marked with a “No Trespassing” sign.
After a closed session where the commission considered all applications, the MPC approved the application when it reverted in open session.
