Rockwood facing second legal challenge in weeks over quarry approvals

Stonewall Town Hall is pictured in June 2025. The town has launched legal action against the Rural Municipality of Rockwood over quarry approvals near its boundaries. (Milan Lukes)

The Town of Stonewall is taking its neighbouring rural municipality to court in a bid to halt aggregate mining operations near the town’s boundaries—marking the second legal challenge filed in recent weeks against the RM of Rockwood’s approvals.

According to a notice of application filed June 11 in the Court of King’s Bench of Manitoba, Stonewall is seeking court orders quashing two conditional use approvals and related council resolutions, alleging they were “unlawful, unreasonable, and inconsistent with statutory planning framework.”

The approvals, both granted April 8, would allow Heidelberg Materials Canada Ltd. and Amrize Canada Inc.—also named as respondents—to expand aggregate extraction operations near the town, subject to a development permit and conditions including blasting limits and hours of operation.

A review of the land parcels cited in the council resolutions shows the affected areas span hundreds of acres just north and northwest of the town, with some situated within a few hundred metres from Stonewall’s boundaries.

The filing notes that in March, the South Interlake Planning District had recommended the RM not approve any quarry applications within a one-mile buffer surrounding Stonewall, citing the town’s proximity and annexed lands intended for future urban development.

That same month, it says the Manitoba Municipal and Northern Relations Community Planning branch published a review of the Amrize application, acknowledging that extraction can create nuisances that generate “land use conflicts” with adjacent properties.

Despite this information—and opposition from more than a hundred residents and public authorities during the public hearing process—the council proceeded with the conditional use approvals, the filing claims.

Stonewall alleges the RM failed to comply with section 106 of Manitoba’s Planning Act, which requires, among other factors, that approvals not be detrimental to the health or general welfare of people living or working in the surrounding area, or negatively impact other properties or potential development nearby.

In addition to quashing the approvals, the legal action seeks court declarations that any related resolutions or permits authorizing aggregate extraction operations be declared invalid, along with an interim injunction halting any development pending the court’s decision.

In a statement, Stonewall CAO Wally Melnyk said the town’s council “heard the community loud and clear in terms of their opposition to quarries being developed closer to town boundaries.”

“Given the limitations of the planning process and legislation, there is no formal method of appealing the conditional use approval that was provided by the RM of Rockwood,” he said.

Melnyk added that turning to the courts was the town’s “only remaining option” based on the legal advice.

The filing also lists four individuals as respondents, identified as owners of the parcels of land earmarked for the quarry expansion.

Second legal challenge in weeks

The legal action comes weeks after a similar court challenge was launched by the owners of Manitoba Bear Rehabilitation Centre Inc. on May 22, also seeking to halt the extraction operations.

The rehabilitation facility, located within the RM, rescues orphaned and injured black bears and argues in its filing that the operations would threaten its ability to function, citing “blasting, vibration, noise, hauling, dust, traffic, industrial activity, and cumulative operational impacts” as incompatible with its work.

It also alleges the approvals were “procedurally unfair” and that they may have been granted based on perceived litigation risk or municipal financial exposure that came to light after public hearings had closed.

RM of Rockwood Reeve Wes Taplin declined to comment, citing the matter before the courts. CTV News has also reached out to Amrize Canada Inc. and Heidelberg Materials Canada Ltd. and is awaiting a response.

None of the claims in either case have been tested in court.

Amrize, a building materials company, lists one of its aggregate locations as just northeast of Stonewall on its website.

According to the RM’s website, Rockwood has several active quarry operations, with quarrying in Stonewall ending in the 1960s.

The town had a population of just over 5,000 residents in the 2021 census, up more than 25 per cent since 2001.