Changes on Westsyde Road: opening of new gravel pit might be offset by another’s closure

SUNDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — The fears of Westsyde Road residents surrounding plans for a new gravel pit may have been put to rest for awhile.

As reported Saturday in The Armchair Mayor News, Bruce Bried of Kamloops Sand & Gravel says he hasn’t done anything at the site, and isn’t sure he’ll get started at all this year.

That, of course, could change if the market demands it and Brief turns his attention to the sand and gravel business from his other business interests but, for now, he says he’s too busy.

The other piece of news for opponents of that pit is the fact that the Blair family’s operation down the road has stopped processing gravel and will, says owner Don Blair, probably be closed up within a couple of years.

That particular pit has been around for more than three decades. It’s a good, well-run operation and accepted as the status quo in the neighbourhood, as is Jamieson Creek Sand & Gravel, only a short distance from Bruce Bried’s property.

Gravel pits can be a source of great anxiety to communities. In this case, it’s not the new pit itself that’s the greatest cause of concern but the cumulative impact of several gravel pit operations in one area.

Neighbourhoods and communities change, sometimes in smaller ways and sometimes — such as the open-pit Ajax copper mine that might open on the edge of south Kamloops — in much bigger ways.

But change they do. In the case of Westsyde Road, the overall changes might not be as extensive as first thought. The impact of the opening of one pit might be offset by the closing of another, resulting in a net zero change.