Complaints Shut Down Farm Sawmill

By JOHN M. MUGGERIDGE

When fireman Brian Whitehead and his wife Lorraine
retired to Brock township, north of Whitby, 15
years ago, they had every reason to count on some
peace and quiet: There was a cemetery next door. 
Today, the cemetery remains dead quiet, but noise
from a nearby sawmill has both shattered the
elderly couple's solitude, and set of a dispute
that could undermine the livelihoods the hundreds
of farmers across Ontario who earn extra dollars
from small sawmills. 
"We had to yell at each other when we were sitting
on the deck. We don't have to put up with this,"
says Lorraine Whitehead, adding that she has "no
fight with farmers." 
Veal producer John Holmes, whose 64-year-old
father-in-law Ed Vincent owns the home-built
sawmill, says the dispute goes a lot deeper than
noise. "There are two types of people in Ontario.
There are urban and there are rural. There's them,
and there's us. They want our kind of life, but
they get here and they want to change it. 
"This postcard image of a farm doesn't exist. The
mortgage has to be paid," says Holmes, who also
works off the farm as a feed truck driver. 
The family has not been able to use the mill since
July, 1994, after the Whiteheads complained to
Brock town council that local bylaws did not permit
sawmilling on agricultural land. The Vincents were
charged on four counts, and fined more than $1,000.
Holmes says legal fees so far exceed $4,000, and
bedding for the veal calves has had to be purchased
to replace the sawdust. He says the family is also
losing lumber business, which averaged 200,000
board feet a year. 
Despite a township vote last month to permit
farmers to operate permanent sawmills on
rural-zoned land, the Vincents' sawmill remains
silent; the Whiteheads have challenged the
township's decision before the Ontario Municipal
Board (OMB). 
For Holmes, the idea of taking a retired farmer to
the OMB for simply trying to supplement the farm
income seems ludicrous. He says hundreds of farmers
across Ontario could "end up in the mess we're in,"
if the Whiteheads should win. "No farmer would
think to check the bylaw...Why are we being put
through this?" 
Lorraine Whitehead, however, doesn't think she and
her husband should have to put up with the racket.
She also says the noise will devalue their house,
which is now on the market. 
"We hadn't planned on putting it up for sale, but
we're just fed up with it...Who knows whether we
can sell it? 
"If we want to sit out on our deck, the noise is
horrendous," magnified by a valley, creating a
"megaphone" effect, she says. "They were operating
anywhere from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 at night. We got
fed up with the noise." 
She charges that the sawmill is a commercial
operation on land that isn't zoned commercial.
Furthermore, the building housing the mill was
built without a permit.
Holmes responds that the family never thought to
get a building permit, but all the proper permits
have since been obtained. He says it was located at
the current site because the land is poor and
there's a gravel base. 
Asked about the hours of operation, he says it was
only in daylight hours, and suggests that "farmers'
idea of a work day and a city person's idea of a
work day are two different things." 
As for the offending mill, it sits about 400 feet
from the Whiteheads' deck. The 45-foot-long,
12-foot wide, nine-feet high mill was built four
years ago by Ed Vincent's son-in-law Mark Struik to
provide extra income for his young family, and make
use of the farm woodlot. It has a 52-inch circular
blade and two-hp John Deere motor. While admitting
it's "not silent", Holmes says the Whiteheads are
exaggerating: "Birds nest inside the mill." 
Modifications are underway to lessen the noise; the
motor is being replaced with a more powerful but
quieter model, and it is being moved to the far end
of the mill. 
Holmes says the family is willing to reach a
compromise without going to the OMB, but Lorraine
Whitehead sees no other way: "I don't see how. They
built this building illegally, and are operating a
commercial business on agricultural property." 
Township officials expect the OMB hearing won't be
until late spring, but the Ontario agriculture
ministry is trying to speed up the process. 
   

back