10TH DAY (Mon.) OF HUNDER PIT OMB HEARING

Mr. David Argue was put on the stand with Ms. Loiacono introducing his testimony with her questions. Mr. Argue is the Woolwich Township transportation expert. He testified that Crowsfoot Corner will be degraded further with the addition of ten trucks per hour from the proposed Hunder Pit. He suggested that greater driver frustration with even longer waits will lead to them taking greater chances. He also suggested that statistically greater volumes of traffic lead to more collisions. He recommended that more monitoring of the intersection be undertaken and that Woolwich Township lobby the Region of waterloo hard to move the suggested fixes for the intersection forward in time.

Mr Paton for the CWRA asked about a dedicated left turn lane onto Sawmill Rd. and about left turn lane restrictions during certain phases of the gravel pit. Mr. Argue agreed .

Then came the surprise as the Chair asked Mr. Argue point blank if he recommended the pit be denied until after the Crowsfoot Corner intersection was improved. He said no.

Mr Emeljanow of Valcoustics was the next Township witness on the stand. He is an acoustical engineer. His testimony was powerful and compelling and in direct conflict with Mr. Gastmayer, the noise expert on behalf of the proponent, Hunder developments. He stated that the sounds were seriously underpredicted as all activities were not included. He suggested that the restrictions on simultaneous extraction and crushing will result in greater handling and movement of materials. He aslo believe that there will be unacceptable noise impacts to certain receptors. Mr. Emeljanow does not believe that the M.O.E.'s criteria on their own will protect the residents. He stated that it's not just an absolute decibel reading but the increase in noise levels which determines acceptable or unacceptable impacts.

Mr. Emeljanow also had serious concerns with the phase one processing area. He believes that its' size is underestimated in order to accomodate both the berm and the recycling materials which are to be stored there. Further he takes issue with "construction" versus extraction noise exemptions. He feels that based on the gravel being near the surface that both these activities should be subject to the same noise limits. In a nutshell Mr. Emeljanow believes that on and off-site noise levels are seriously underestimated and that even the M.O.E. criteria will be exceeded.

Cross-exam was supposed to start yesterday but Mr. Pickfield was repeatedly stalled due to procedural problems dealing with Discovery as well as whether or not a particular document was the correct version. This morning (Tuesday) things will proceed again at 10 am..