PLAINFIELD?– A business owner here says he hasn’t been able to operate his gravel pit in more than a year due to flooding that occurred in August 2008, and county council says it’s time for something to be done about it.
Coun. Leonard Fraser says heavy rains over the Labour Day weekend in 2008 that caused flooding throughout the county also affected a family-run gravel pit business and family farm. The flooding permanently changed the flow of a brook in the area, and because of environmental and fisheries regulations, the property owner’s hands are tied.
Right now, the brook has been diverted into the gravel pit, making it unusable, and has left a “crater” through a field that used to be farmed for hay and corn.
“There are thousands of dollars worth of product gone, and the brook is in the gravel pit so he can’t use the gravel pit,” said Fraser.
“There’s a channel in the middle of this man’s field the width of this room, and he can’t use the field anymore to make hay and corn.”
Fraser says the man has been told he can’t divert the brook back to its former course.
That didn’t sit well with Deputy Warden Fielding Smith.
“Something reasonable’s got to be done,” Smith said.
“The Department of Environment’s got to look at these things. You can’t chase people out of their home and business because there’s a chance that you may kill a few fish.”
Council agreed to write the federal and provincial fisheries and environment ministers, as well as MP Peter MacKay and Pictou West MLA Charlie Parker, urging them to address the situation.