This year may well be remembered as the year of the Ontario Municipal Board hearing at Woolwich Township.
The township is facing no less than five potential OMB hearings this year, most of which are related to gravel pit applications.
The Jigs Hollow gravel pit, the Hunder gravel pit and the Middlebrook Road gravel pit have all been referred to the OMB. In the case of both the Hunder pit and the Jigs Hollow gravel pit, the applicants have referred the proposals to the OMB.
In the case of the Middlebrook Road gravel pit, the Ministry of Natural Resources has appealed the application, opposing the township’s inclusion of vertical zoning on the gravel pit.
A fourth appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board is also related to gravel pits, with both the township and Region of Waterloo appealing modifications the province has made to the mineral aggregate policies of the region’s official plan.
And the final appeal is related to the Hawkridge Homes plan of subdivision, which has been referred to the OMB by the applicant.
Pre-hearing conferences are scheduled to begin as early as next month, with the final schedule of the hearings still to be determined.
The OMB hearings were highlighted within the business plan for engineering and planning services, which was presented at the Jan. 10 committee-of-the-whole meeting.
Dan Kennaley, director of engineering and planning, indicated that the hearings could have a “significant impact” on the workload of staff during the coming year.