Quarries and farmland in Ramara: the whole story
Last verified June 15, 2026 · Every claim links to its source · Jump to sources
The short version
A company, LCP Quarry Limited, wants to operate a Class A, below-water-table quarry — extracting up to 2 million tonnes of aggregate a year — on farmland about 3 km from Brechin. It applied for a provincial aggregate licence in 2024, and in early 2026 Ramara council approved the local rezoning (Official Plan Amendment No. 29) that allows a quarry on part of the site. Residents organized as the Concerned Citizens of Ramara oppose it over the loss of prime farmland and concerns about water, dust, traffic and blasting, and pushed council to pause new quarries while it studies the issue. The province treats both prime farmland and mineral aggregate as resources worth protecting — which is exactly why this is hard.
What's actually being proposed
LCP Quarry Limited applied to the Ministry of Natural Resources on July 15, 2024 for a Class A licence under the Aggregate Resources Act. The application is for a below-water-table quarry with a proposed licence area of 151.4 hectares (374.1 acres), an extraction area of 91.5 hectares (240 acres), and a maximum production of 2,000,000 tonnes of aggregate per year. The lands are Part of Lots 11, 12 and 13, Concession 1 (former Geographic Township of Mara). The proposed entrance is off Concession Road 2 about 450 m west of Highway 12, with the main haul route running east to Highway 12 and then south toward the GTA; the site would be extracted in two phases and rehabilitated to a quarry lake, wetland and terrestrial habitat. Alongside the provincial licence, the company also applied to the Township for an Official Plan Amendment (OP-4/23) and Zoning By-law Amendment (Z-11/23) to allow extraction on land previously designated for agriculture and rural use. [Environmental Registry of Ontario notice 019-8945; LCP Quarry Limited application (MHBC), July 15, 2024, and brechinquarry.ca; Township planning files OP-4/23 / Z-11/23.]
Provincial soil mapping (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, AgMaps) shows the site spans Class 1 prime agricultural soil across much of the northern portion and lower-capability Class 6 land to the south, with the proposed extraction area covering both. The site also sits between two existing licensed quarries — LaFarge Canada's Brechin Quarry (Licence #3582) to the northeast and Mara Limestone Aggregate's quarry (Licence #3717, James Dick) to the south — and three homes adjoin the proposed boundary near Highway 12. [OMAFRA AgMaps soil-capability and licensed-quarry mapping.]
What council decided, and when
On January 12, 2026, LCP's planners appeared before council with an update on the application; council received the staff recommendation report as information and directed staff to report back on next steps. At its February 23, 2026 meeting, council approved and enacted the Official Plan and zoning amendments (files OP-4/23 / Z-11/23): Official Plan Amendment No. 29 changed the land-use designations from "Agriculture" and "Rural" to include "Mineral Aggregate Extraction Area" (with special-policy areas), permitting the licensing of a quarry on a portion of the lands, with ecological enhancements and monitoring on the rest. As conditions, council directed staff to advise the Ministry of Natural Resources of the agreed changes to the Aggregate Resources Act site plan, and to require a traffic-camera system at the Concession Road 2 entrance so quarry trucks make a full stop. The township rezoning and the provincial aggregate licence are two separate approvals. [Council Highlights, Jan 12, 2026; Feb 23, 2026; Notice of Adoption of OPA No. 29.]
Why residents are opposed
The Concerned Citizens of Ramara and other residents have raised: the permanent loss of prime farmland, risks to groundwater and wells, silica dust and air quality, truck traffic and safety on Highway 12, noise and blasting vibration, effects on property values and on the community's growth near Brechin, and the cumulative effect of multiple quarries in the township. Public petitions have circulated opposing the application. [OrilliaMatters coverage 2024–2026; "Say No to LCP Brechin Quarry" petitions on Change.org and Leadnow.]
The Concerned Citizens of Ramara also filed six detailed technical submissions to the provincial Environmental Registry (ERO 019-8945) during the comment period — addressing blasting and flyrock, noise and vibration, property values, water resources, land-use conflict, and regulatory compliance. These are the residents' own submissions, citing studies and the application's technical reports; the province weighs them alongside the applicant's evidence. [Concerned Citizens of Ramara — submissions to ERO 019-8945, September 2024.]
The case for aggregate (the other side)
Aggregate (sand, gravel, stone) is the raw material for roads, foundations and construction, and Ontario policy treats mineral aggregate as a resource of provincial interest, to be made available close to where it's used so haul distances, costs and emissions stay lower. Operations are regulated under the Aggregate Resources Act, with required setbacks, water and noise controls, monitoring and eventual rehabilitation of the site. Quarries also pay fees to the municipality — the Township reported about $482,000 in quarry-related revenue in 2024, around two per cent of township revenues. [Ontario "Aggregate resources" / Aggregate Resources Act (ontario.ca); Township revenue figures via OrilliaMatters.]
The real tension
Provincial policy protects both prime agricultural land and mineral aggregate resources, and on this site those two goals collide — which is why council described itself as "between a rock and a hard place." Prime farmland, once extracted, is effectively gone for generations even with rehabilitation; aggregate, by the same provincial logic, is supposed to be extracted where it exists. Reasonable people weigh those differently. This brief lays out the facts, not a verdict.
Where the per-tonne fee goes
Aggregate operators pay a per-tonne levy (about 19.8¢/tonne set in 2018, indexed since to the mid-20s¢). It is distributed through The Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation (TOARC):
Distribution of the per-tonne levy. Source: TOARC.
The interim control by-law residents asked for
Residents urged council to enact an interim control by-law (ICBL), which under the Planning Act (s.38) can pause new pits and quarries for up to a year (extendable to two) while a municipality studies and updates its Official Plan rules. On January 12, 2026 council directed staff to seek a legal opinion on the feasibility and effect of an aggregate ICBL — explicitly including its impact on current and future applications — and authorized up to $10,000 from the planning division's legal budget. Council received that legal opinion (Report CD-07-26) as information on February 23, 2026 and did not enact an interim control by-law; at the same meeting it approved the LCP amendments. As of mid-2026 no ICBL has been brought forward. An ICBL can be appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal, and it cannot be used in bad faith to kill one specific pending application. [Ontario: Citizen's Guide — land-use controls; Council Highlights Jan 12 & Feb 23, 2026.]
What other townships do
The Caledon precedent. The Town of Caledon enacted an aggregate ICBL (2022–2024). An aggregate company appealed it to the Ontario Land Tribunal; on March 14, 2025 the Tribunal dismissed the appeal and upheld the by-law, rejecting an "aggregate shortage" argument on evidence of ample supply. During the freeze Caledon completed an aggregate policy study and adopted new Official Plan language. In short, a township-level ICBL can survive an aggregate company's appeal — though the province later pushed back on parts of Caledon's new policy, a reminder it can still override. [Caledon Citizen; Town of Caledon; OLT decision Mar 14, 2025.]
Stronger Official-Plan language. Severn's June 2024 Official Plan is the strongest nearby model: new or expanded operations need an OPA plus rezoning and studies; council must weigh proximity to settlements and homes, agricultural resources, water and wells, and "noise, odour, dust and traffic," plus a cumulative-impact assessment of existing and proposed operations, with larger zoning setbacks and haul-route review. The Simcoe County Official Plan already treats aggregate on prime farmland as an interim use requiring rehabilitation, and lets the County negotiate "least impact" haul routes. [Township of Severn OP, 2024; Simcoe County OP s.4.4.11–4.4.12.]
Haul-route agreements. Approving a haul route is the lever municipalities retain: it can be tied to operator-funded road repair (Wellington County), supplemental per-tonne host payments (Wellington North), or refused outright (Trent Lakes, 2024). Every operator also files an annual Compliance Assessment Report with the province and a copy to the municipality. [Wellington Advertiser; Kawartha411; ontario.ca.]
What's decided, and what's still open
Decided: council approved and enacted the local Official Plan and zoning amendments allowing a quarry on part of the Brechin site on February 23, 2026, and — with the ICBL legal opinion in hand the same night — chose not to pause the application with an interim control by-law. No appeal of the municipal approvals to the Ontario Land Tribunal has been publicly reported. Still open: the provincial Class A aggregate licence. The Environmental Registry posting (ERO 019-8945) ran its public comment period from August 7 to October 7, 2024 and remains at the proposal stage — provincial aggregate mapping still lists the site's status as "Application" — with no licensing decision posted as of mid-2026. Many residents see the provincial licence stage as the last major opportunity for concerns about groundwater, blasting, traffic and cumulative impacts to be weighed before a final decision. Separately, a second Class A below-water quarry — the Kingfisher North Extension (NRK Holdings Inc., files OP-1/25 / Z-4/25) — is also under review; on February 23, 2026 council told the province that application's licence is "premature" because the required planning amendments are still in technical review. Residents can follow the Environmental Registry notice, subscribe to council agendas, and speak at council. [ERO notice 019-8945; Ontario aggregate site mapping (MNR), site ALPS ID 626641; Council Highlights Feb 23, 2026.]
Sources
Primary documents (also in The Record): LCP Brechin Quarry application (July 15, 2024); Concerned Citizens of Ramara submissions to ERO 019-8945 — blasting & flyrock, noise & vibration, property values, water & environment, land use, regulatory compliance.
Environmental Registry of Ontario — LCP Quarry notice 019-8945; LCP Quarry Limited application (MHBC), July 15, 2024, and project site brechinquarry.ca; Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs — AgMaps soil-capability mapping; Concerned Citizens of Ramara — submissions to ERO 019-8945 (blasting & flyrock, noise & vibration, property values, water resources, land-use conflict, regulatory compliance), September 2024; Township of Ramara — Notice of Adoption of OPA No. 29 (and Council Highlights Jan 12 & Feb 23, 2026; draft Official Plan, June 2025); Ontario aggregate site mapping (Ministry of Natural Resources — Aggregate Site Authorized/Active layer), Brechin Quarry, ALPS ID 626641 (status: Application; Class A, below water); Ontario "Aggregate resources" / Aggregate Resources Act and Provincial Planning Statement 2024; Ontario — Citizen's Guide to land-use controls (interim control by-laws); The Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation (TOARC) levy distribution; Township of Severn Official Plan (2024); Simcoe County Official Plan; Caledon Citizen / Town of Caledon (ICBL upheld by OLT, Mar 14, 2025); Wellington Advertiser; Kawartha411; OrilliaMatters local reporting (2024–2026); "Say No to LCP Brechin Quarry" petitions (Change.org, Leadnow).