M.D. rejects moving 90,000 tonnes of gravel with looming provincial reclamation order

Generic picture of a gravel pile.

The M.D. of Bonnyville is looking for a different site to relocate a stockpile of gravel which needs to be moved by the end of September.

M.D. of Bonnyville council rejected moving 90,000 tonnes of gravel behind the Moose Lake Gospel Camp at Municipal Planning Commission on Tuesday.

The gravel was proposed to the moved to a 10-15 acre piece of land, of which the M.D. owns just over 48 acres near Highway 660, roughly 12 miles from the current gravel site.

That storage site is Kalinko Pit 19, private property northwest in the M.D. and is under an Alberta Environment order to be reclaimed.

The province is requiring the gravel be moved by Sept. 30.

M.D. council rejected the proposed relocation because they felt it wasn’t the best spot, said Reeve Greg Sawchuk on The Morning After.

“It’s not much more of a trail that goes in there. For the number of gravel trucks, because in this case, we’re talking 90,000 tonnes, so over 4000 trucks to go into that location was going to be too heavy use on that road. The MPC denied that request from our administration,” he said.

Sawchuk said that the best option would be to use that gravel instead of relocation, but that would involve an extension from the province on the Sept. 30 deadline and continuing to lease the private land in the meantime.

“We’re still waiting to hear. The request will go into the government on that and if that’s refused then we’ll look at other options as far as other locations,” he said.

“But the best option would be to keep it there for the time being and use it on the roads.”

The cost of hauling the gravel in the council package was roughly $390,000.