Trent Lakes Council has reversed a decision made at the last council meeting and decided to support Buckhorn Sand and Gravel’s request to extend the hours they can operate a quarry at two sties in the municipality.
Council had voted not to support the request from the quarry at the April 7, 2026 regular council meeting. The provincial Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is the agency that approves requests and Trent Lakes has been asked to comment.
Company owner Jeff Chesher and his representative, Evan Leahy, presented a delegation and a chart at the meeting that listed how much money the company contributes to the municipality through permit fees.“I would like to point out how much we contribute to the township,” Chesher said.
In April the company had asked to expand hours of operation from 7 am. to 6 pm. Monday to Friday to 5:30 am to 6 pm on weekdays and on Saturdays from 5:30 am to 1 pm. The expanded hours would be year-round.
At this week’s meeting, municipal planner Adele Arbour presented a letter from the company clarifying some of the information included in the April 7 report and amending the expansion of hours for shipping from 5:30 am to 7 pm and the hours for crushing from 6:30 am to 7 pm.
The company has also offered to install low decibel reverse alarms to mitigate operational noise.
The company stated they do not want to crush materials or remove trees 24 hours a day and do not intend to crush on weekends.
Councillor John Braybrook explained that he had voted against the expansion at the April meeting because the information was unclear. He said that now that he has a clearer picture he supports the company making the changes.
Deputy Mayor Carol Armstrong said she did not think the company’s clarification changes anything because loading at 5:30 is still a noisy process.
“The letters from neighbours raised concerns that are still valid,” she said. “And it is still not clear how the company is disadvantaged against other operators that are near by.”
Arbour told council that it is difficult to compare different quarries in terms of hours of operation because they extract different things.
Council first has to re-vote on the previously approved April resolution which stated that they were opposed to the amended hours and had concerns with the requested changes in operations.
Once they did that they then voted on a new resolution that Trent Lakes is not opposed to the extended hours and has no concerns with the changes.
Council’s support will now be communicated to MNRF, the agency that will make the final decision on the company’s requested changes.
