County approves resource extraction operation

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wheatland County Municipal Planning Commission approved a development permit application for a natural resource extraction during the Aug. 19 meeting. 

County council previously approved the rezoning of five acres of land to Natural Resource Extraction District, Aug. 12, as a prerequisite for the approval of the application. 

Approximately 50,000 tons of material, including clay, gravel, and sand are to be taken from the subject lands, located roughly eight kilometers northeast of Dalum. 

Currently, the land is very steep. Once it has been reclaimed following the extraction operation, it is to be left as more conducive for effective farming operations. 

The top and subsoils are to be replaced, reshaping the hill to allow for safer farming operations and higher gross yields. 

The project is anticipated to last between two and four months to see through to completion and will occupy approximately three acres of site area. Extracted materials are planned to be hauled to Drumheller for use to construct flood mitigation berms. 

As per county bylaws, landowners within one mile received notice of the application. No responses to the notice were received.

Several conditions were outlined by the county prior to the approval of the project. Among these, are that the applicant is required to provide documentation confirming the utility owner of the underground gas line adjacent to the borrow pit is amicable to allowing a berm to be placed over the gas line. 

Additionally, the applicant is required to provide approval from a geotechnical engineer for the proposed berm identified in their plan. This would include confirmation of the materials used in its construction, and acceptance of the berm plan by the county’s third-party engineer.

The applicant is further required to provide an erosion and sediment control plan to show pre-construction, during, and post-construction conditions of the operational site. Prior to the beginning of on-site activities, these will also need to be approved by the county’s third-party engineers. 

Generally requiring the provision of screening from public roadways, the extraction project has been granted a variance that the berm will only be constructed along the east side of the extraction area. 

This variance is conditional upon the approval of the berm construction over the adjacent gas line.

The Municipal Planning commission voted to approve the development permit application with the updated conditions and variances outlined. The application was approved unanimously and will continue pending approvals from the company presiding over the present gas line addressed in the document.