Quarry proposed in Faraday Township

December 22, 2025

By Michael Riley

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A public meeting and a virtual public information session were held on Dec. 17 regarding a proposal for a Class A quarry near Bow Lake in Faraday Township from the applicant, 1000777044 Ontario Ltd., operating as Rocco Aggregates. They are seeking this quarry license under the Aggregate Resources Act and a rezoning of the land from rural zone to the mineral extractive exception no. x (MX-X) zone. The official plan amendment no. 9 is to alter the OP designation from rural and waterfront to extractive land use. These changes would allow them to extract more than 20,000 tonnes of aggregate per year, with a maximum of 50,000 tonnes per annum from above the water table. Rocco Aggregates’ proposed quarry in Faraday is around 36.08 hectares, located on parts of Lots 21 and 22, Concessions 10 and 11.
Tom Rocco, owner of Rocco Aggregates commented on the proposed quarry to Bancroft This Week on Dec. 15, saying that the decision to open and operate a quarry at this location was driven by their existing business operations.
“My father and I have owned and operated our trucking and excavating company for over 30 years. In 2019, my wife [Heather] and I purchased this property with the goal of growing our business. We soon recognized that the land has significant potential to supply the very materials we transport every day with our dump trucks. This area is in need of additional job opportunities, and the ability to contribute to a more sustainable future for our family and the families of our employees is extremely important to us. We have received a tremendous amount of support from local business owners and residents who recognize the value of responsible growth and expanded economic opportunities within the community,” he says.
Rocco concedes he’s also received concerns, primarily from local lake residents, and he wanted to emphasize that he and his wife are lake residents too.
“This is where we live, work, and raise our children. We would never move forward with a project that posed any risk to our family, our neighbours, or the environment. Over the past five years, we have worked diligently with our planner on this project and have completed all required studies in great detail to ensure safety and environmental protection. We are fully committed to operating responsibly, safely, and with the highest regard for our environment and local wildlife. We greatly appreciate all the support we have received this far,” he says.
The first public meeting on the proposed quarry was an in-person session held at the Carl Tinney Community Centre in Faraday at 1p.m., where the public was able to comment for and against the proposed quarry, and the applicant’s request to amend the official plan and zoning bylaw. In addition to Faraday council and staff, Emily Galloway, planner, Justin Harrow, director of planning and development, and senior planner Jason Budd with Hastings County were present to hear the comments and to answer any questions. Marnie Saunders, senior land use planner from DM Wills Associates Ltd. and the Roccos were also present. Deputy clerk Sheryl Scott told Bancroft This Week that the public meeting regarding the proposed quarry was well attended and received on Dec. 17 and had nearly 100 attendees and lasted 45 minutes. Both Scott and Councillor John O’Donnell thought the meeting went very well with many positive comments and some concerns with requests for more information on the proposed quarry and things like what kind of employment it would generate and how long it would be in operation. Saunders did not know offhand the answers to those queries, but said she’d forward that information to attendees when she did. For more information on this meeting, or to get digital or hard copies of the studies conducted for this quarry proposal over the past several years, contact Galloway at gallowaye@hastingscounty.com.
A second virtual public meeting was held that evening, hosted by Saunders. During this meeting, the applicant answered details of the proposal and answered questions. She told the attendees that she’d be providing a summary of the post aggregate license under the Aggregate Resources Act of Ontario and then open the floor to any questions, comments or concerns from members of the public, Ministry staff or any external agencies that have been circulated as part of the application.
“The proposed quarry represents good planning and is consistent with provincial planning statement of 2024 and conforms with the County of Hastings official plan in the township of Faraday zoning bylaw. So, to provide some context for the applications and the general geographic area. I’ll provide some background on the proposed use itself and the aggregate resources located in the county of Hastings. So, mineralogy resources are non-renewable, and they only occur in fixed locations. It is the intent of the provincial planning statement and the county’s official plan to protect aggregate resources for the long term and make them as available and as close to markets as possible. Undeveloped areas in the county with high potential of extraction for sand and gravel,” she says.
Saunders told attendees that according to the aggregate resources inventory for Hastings County, the majority of the site is identified as the aggregate resource area of primary significance and that the total area occupied by gravel and sand deposits in the county was approximately 91,000 hectares, 15 per cent of the entire County.
“In total, in Hastings County, there are 3,494 hectares of both licensed and permitted sand and gravel extraction operations,” she says.
Saunders explained that the area surrounding the proposed quarry is mostly undeveloped with some mixed land uses, including some commercial and residential land uses. She said it currently has an existing entrance off of Hwy. 28, located about 400 metres west of Lower Faraday Road and that this is the proposed entrance that will also be utilized for the proposed query. She said there are multiple buildings existing on the subject property, which include two dwellings, a barn, a shop building and that all of the buildings are supposed to remain on the property and will be will maintain their existing uses. “None of the existing structures or buildings are proposed to be part of the quarry use. The quarry itself is planned to operate seasonally from May to November and the working hours would be from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The proposed concept plan here shows the location of the existing buildings as well as the proposed operations area and the road to access those operations area, which you can see extend north and west from the existing driveway from Hwy. 28. It continues around the rear of the MTO property, which has their MTO equipment. There’s a small area there for staging, stockpiling, and then further north is where the actual extraction is proposed to be located, and that’s identified generally by the licensed boundary. And then, where you see phase one, two, three, four, and five identified, those are the areas of the actual extraction. So as part of the application to the ministry for the aggregate license, the following studies were submitted. There were reviews completed by the County of Hastings, the [Crowe Valley] Conservation Authority, and an independent peer reviewer on all of these studies. Just to provide just kind of a general overview of these studies, I’ll begin by discussing the hydrogeological assessment. So, the subject lands are not located in a wellhead protection area. They’re also not located in an intake protection zone. And the closest wellhead protection area to the property is located about six kilometers away in the community of Cardiff. The water report demonstrates that there will be no negative impacts on groundwater recharge or the aquifer source. Water protection is addressed in greater detail in the hydrogeological assessment in section 5 of that report. The proposed query is categorized as a category 4 aggregate query, which means that there will be restrictions on extraction and the limit of extraction to be above the highest elevation of the maximum groundwater table. So, no extraction will occur within or below the groundwater. There’s actually a two-metre buffer required above the maximum groundwater elevation, where any extraction is restricted to occur above,” she says.
As for traffic, Saunders said they did complete a traffic impact study and reviewed the anticipated traffic generated by the proposed use as long as, as well as the main haulage routes.
“The study indicated that worst case scenarios the proposed development would generate approximately 10 vehicles per hour of traffic in the morning peak hours and approximately eight vehicles per hour during afternoon peak hours, so that in comparison to the existing traffic that is already on Hwy. 28, that that minor increase in traffic would not have any impact to the existing traffic and does not require any upgrades or improvements to Hwy. 28 where the quarry will be located,” she says.
Regarding the natural environment, Saunders said an environmental study was completed as part of the aggregate resources application and that the report was required to identify any natural heritage features that are located on or within 120 metres of the subject property and ensure that they’re protected.
“So as part of our environmental report, the biologist has completed quite extensive field work to support their study, including amphibian, call nighttime breeding bird surveys. Ecological land classification, mapping wetland delineation, mammal observations, wildlife tree density surveys, assessment of significant wildlife habitat, bat acoustic monitoring, and finally, raptor and hair nest surveys. Of their field work, and all observations can be found in sections four and five of the natural environmental report. The report also included a number of recommendations for mitigation measures that will be incorporated into the licensing agreement with the ministry. In terms of blasting and noise, noise impact analysis was completed to review the anticipated impacts. The study recommended a number of mitigation measures to ensure that sound levels from the worst-case scenario of the operations on site will be inclined in compliance with the MECP noise guideline limits. A blasting assessment that was completed also demonstrated that there would be no environmental effects associated with the blasting operations. In general, blasting would typically occur one to two times per week during peak seasons. That’s only during peak season, and that’s still limited to the maximum amount of aggregate that’s permitted to be removed per year from the site under the aggregate license. No more than four blasts will occur per day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. That is also in relation to the one to two plus per week during peak season. So, the reality of four blasts occurring in one day might happen once per year. On average, it would be less than one blast per day. And those blasts would last approximately one to two seconds. In order to ensure compliance with the MECP guidelines, the technical recommendations and guidelines within the study will be also incorporated into the accurate licensing application. And they’re required to meet all MECP requirements, based on all of the mitigation measures that have been recommended by the various studies that have been completed in support of the application. We feel those mitigation measures can be appropriately incorporated into the aggregate licensing agreement with the Ministry and we’ll continue to work with them to ensure that all of their guidelines and regulations are met. And we will continue to receive comments from both members of the public and any external agencies that have been circulated as part of the process until Jan. 17, which would be the closure of the consultation period for the aggregate resources Act application. We appreciate everyone’s interest in this application. As I said, are committed to working with anyone who has any comments or concerns on the application throughout the remainder of the process. I can provide hard copies or digital copies of any and all of the supporting material that’s been submitted to the ministry in support of the applications,” she says.
Next week, Bancroft This Week will continue this article with the attendees’ comments regarding Rocco Aggregates’ proposed quarry at the Dec. 17 evening virtual meeting.