TOARC - eSurrender FAQ

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What are surrendered aggregate licences and permits?

Surrendered aggregate licences and permits are licenced/permitted sites that are no longer extracted from, have been rehabilitated as per the site plan, and where the licence/ permit have been relinquished by the licencee/ permittee.

What is the purpose of the Surrender Online Reporting Tool?

The Surrender Online Reporting Tool was created to provide the public with information on the end-use of aggregate pits and quarries in the province.

Where does the information in the Surrender Online Reporting Tool come from?

Information was collected from site visits/ field verification, site plans, and NDMNR and TOARC databases. Site visits began in the summer of 2015 and are continually underway as more sites are surrendered. The ‘current land use’ and ‘surrounding land use’ are a snap shot of the time when TOARC staff visited the site and may not be representative of the time of surrender.

What are the features of the Surrender Online Reporting Tool?

The Surrender Online Reporting Tool will help parties to:

Examine the end-use of formerly licensed pits and quarries in the province
Assess the land-uses of surrendered aggregate sites in Ontario and in individual counties
View site photos of surrendered pits and quarries in the province

What is the difference between Active, Surrendered and Legacy sites?

Active sites are sites that are currently licenced or permitted under the Aggregate Resources Act and follow strict guidelines outlined by the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines Natural Resources and Forestry (NDMNR). Surrendered sites are no longer extracted from as they have been rehabilitated under the obligations of the Aggregate Resources Act and no longer have a licence or a permit. Legacy sites or abandoned aggregate sites are pits and quarries that were extracted from before licences and permits were mandated, and thus, rehabilitation may not have been completed.

What is the difference between a licence and a permit?

A licence is required to extract aggregate from private land and a permit is required on Crown land.

Who is responsible for the rehabilitation of licenced/permitted sites?

The licence/ permit holders are responsible for the rehabilitation of active pits and quarries. Rehabilitation must be completed as described on the approved site plan for the licence/ permit.

Who determines what the end-use of a licenced or permitted site should be?

When a person applies for a licence/ permit they must apply under the Aggregate Resources Act. The Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry (NDMNR) will review the full application including the final and progressive rehabilitation plans. The decision is made by the NDMNR with consultations from the public, Conservation Authorities, Municipalities, aboriginal communities, etc.

What is progressive rehabilitation and why is it important?

Progressive rehabilitation is a way of rehabilitating extracted areas of aggregate sites while the licence/permit is still active. Once an area has been extracted the licensee/permittee moves to the next stage of extraction and the current extracted area is then rehabilitated. Progressive and final rehabilitation is required under the Aggregate Resources Act.

How were the sites located?

Sites were located based on the best information available. Sites were identified in the office using a combination of resources such as; UTM coordinates, property information, GIS data, site plans, and air photos. Then landowners were contacted for further verification.

Were the inventories completed on the extracted area or licenced area of the site?

Inventories were conducted on the extracted area. Extracted areas are generally easier to estimate when ground truthing and for landowners to identify. In most cases, the licenced/permitted area boundaries were not available as many of the licences/permits were over 20 years old and the retention period of information had expired.

Why does the site still look like it has not been rehabilitated on Google Earth?

There may be a few reasons why the site does not appear to be rehabilitated on Google Earth. Often Google Earth imagery is a couple of years old, therefore, you might not have an up to date image on the sites current state. The site may also be slated for development, for further resource extraction, or for some other use. These types of sites may not require final rehabilitation until future land use/development has been confirmed.

Do all licenced/ permitted pits and quarries have the same rehabilitation standards?

In consideration of the significant temporal period covered by eSurrender it includes sites that were regulated under the previous legislation of the Pits and Quarries Control Act (PQCA) (1970) which had different standards, policy, procedures and regulations compared to the Aggregate Resources Act (ARA) (1990). These changes may affect the physical nature of the individual sites and an acceptable site surrendered in 1985 may look different then a 2017 standard. In addition, if a site that was licenced or permitted under the PQCA but surrendered when the ARA was enacted in 1990, the site would follow the standards and guidelines regulated in the PQCA.

What does the site boundary represent?

The site boundaries on the Surrender Online Reporting Tool represents the licenced/ permitted area boundary obtained from the NDMNR. In cases where information on the licence/ permit boundary were not available, the site boundary represents an estimation of the extracted area obtained from field verification.

The location pin doesn’t seem to be on the correct site?

The location pin may not be in the right location if the site has not been visited yet/verified or if the site location is unknown. For sites that have been visited, pins should be accurate. However, if the site location has been estimated it is possible that the site was not accurately identified. If you have information regarding the correct location of a pit, please contact us so we can update it!

I can’t find a site on the Surrender Online Reporting Tool?

There may be a couple of reasons that your site may not be on the Surrender Online Reporting Tool. One reason is that the site you are looking for may be an active licence or permit or may be a legacy pit or quarry. Another reason is that we may not have had enough information to locate the site as most of our information was obtained from the NDMNR and they only keep records for ten years after a site is surrendered. But! If you have information on the location of a site as well as the corresponding site identification number, please contact TOARC so that we can provide the most complete information to you!

Why would the current land-use be different from the land-use identified on the site plan?

Final rehabilitation must be completed as approved on the site plan of the licence/ permit. However, once a site is surrendered by NDMNR, the landowner may choose to change the land use on the private land as long as it is in accordance with Municipal by-laws.

Are the current and surrounding land uses representative of the date of surrender?

TOARC began visiting the surrendered sites in 2015, many of the aggregate sites had been surrendered prior to these site visits. Consequently, all the site visits are just a snap shot in time. For example the site may have been rehabilitated to a meadow as described in the site plan in 2007, but with TOARC staff visited the site in 2017 it had been ten years since the surrender and the land use may have changed to a commercial development as the land post-surrender is not subject to the ARA. The pins for each site will show the surrender date along with the site visit date for the user to recognize how long it has been since the licence/ permit was surrendered.

How long will it take to visit all of the pits and quarries?

Site visits have been taking place since the summer of 2015 and will continue until our list of surrendered sites are visited. As new ones are added each year staff will continue to update the database. The majority of sites in southern Ontario will be visited by 2019. Northern sites will may take longer to visit due to remoteness and lack of access.

Where can I learn more about aggregate resources?

The Ontario government has more information about aggregate resources at https://www.ontario.ca/page/aggregate-resources. You can also find information on OSSGA’s publication page, https://www.ossga.com/publications/.

Where do I find information on legacy sites?

We have more information about legacy sites on the Management of Abandoned Aggregates Properties program (MAAP) portion of our website, http://www.toarc.com/maap-1/about-maap.html

Where do I find information on Active licenced and permitted sites

Information on the licence or permit holder, size, operation type, and maximum annual tonnage limit can be found using the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Natural Resources and Forestry Pits and Quarries Online Tool.

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THE ONTARIO AGGREGATE RESOURCES CORPORATION