Residents fight Miller Lake quarry

People who live near Miller Lake in Halifax have hired a lawyer to fight a proposed quarry.

A New Brunswick construction company wants to open a hard rock quarry, but people who live nearby say it will destroy their way of life.

Northern Construction Inc., which produces asphalt, is proposing to strip about four hectares of land and turn it into a hard rock quarry. 

Ron Christian, of Northern Construction, said the opposition surprises the company.

"Well, in rural Nova Scotia we have a quarry and there was really no opposition and we were a lot closer, within a few hundred metres, to some homes," he said Monday. "But this is urban, and this is what you get."

Gerry Sheehan, who lives nearby, is concerned about the long-term cost of a quarry.

"This quarry proposal is immediately adjacent to the Waverley Game Sanctuary. The Waverley Game Sanctuary is, obviously, one of the few protected areas in Nova Scotia for game," he said.

"There's wetlands in the immediate area and the community's concerned with dust pollution coming from the facility. They're also concerned with the blasting operation that will occur at the quarry."

Area resident Stacey Rudderham attended a public meeting of those opposed to the quarry on Sunday evening because she's worried.

"We have the natural setting here. Basically, we've invested a lot of money in our property in this area, and to have a quarry come in, takes away all of that natural environment with the noise and the dust pollution," she said.

Coun. Barry Dalyrmple supports the residents.

"We have existing quarries already in this district with enough rock to supply the entire province for more than 100 years. So, we don't need new quarries," he said.

"Having said that, I'm not opposed to new quarries if they go to the right areas."

This area became a sancutary because in 1926 the Canadian General Council of the Boy Scouts Association of Ottawa requested 1,214 hectares of land be set aside for the use of the Boy Scouts, according to the Natural Resources Department website.

The sancutary was later expanded to cover 5,228 hectares; of those, 1,056 hectares are privately owned. Hunting and trapping are prohibited.