My name is Tom Newman, and I am a cottager with life-long ties to Skeleton Lake and the surrounding area. I am strongly opposed to the proposed Lippa pit and quarry.
I have recently been voicing my concerns, and have spoken with Donald Furniss (Mayor of ToML), Allen Edwards (Councillor Ward B, ToML), Linda Barrick-Spearn (Councillor Ward B, ToML), Gault McTaggart (Councillor Ward B, ToML), and David Pink (Director of Planning, ToML). Several things became clear to me from these conversations.
First, it is vital for those, opposing the Lippa pit and quarry, to turn up en masse, at the ToML meeting in Port Carling, on Friday, June 16, to voice our displeasure. The more people who are prepared to make personal sacrifices to attend this meeting, the greater impact we will have.
Second, it is important for us to have speakers with persuasive and well-researched arguments to make submissions at this meeting. Each speaker will be given 5 minutes, and must not exceed this time allotment. Given so little time, it means that the most effective way for us to cover all the key points, is to divide up the sub-topics amongst the speakers, with each submission focussing primarily on one or two of these areas (e.g., threats to water quality, negative impact on tourism, increased noise levels from pit operation and trucks, destruction of natural habitat, etc.). If you are planning to make a submission, please let us know the main focus, so that we can help to coordinate the content, in order to avoid excessive repetition.
Finally, we will be facing off against a team of professional consultants from S. Brummell and Associates, who have prepared the reports that we will be contesting at the June 16 meeting. These reports are available at the ToML website (muskokalakes.ca), and are recommended reading, especially for those of us, who plan to make submissions.
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