The long awaited MZO at Picton Terminals, if awarded, would re-zone the entirety of the properties at 62, 24, 130, 167, 203, 253 and 254 White Chapel Road from Rural 1 to MX-Industrial Extractive.

Over the past five years, the Doornekamps have acquired all the farmland surrounding their quarry operation, over doubling the size of the property from 62 acres to 148. It now extends north as well as south of White Chapel Road.

All of the new lands could be turned into a rock quarry should the Terminals apply for and receive an Aggregate Extraction license with the MZO.

Even with the MZO, however, a quarry license is not a foregone conclusion. The property sits within a residential area, and on Picton Bay, the drinking water source for 7000 people.

Yulia and Sergei Nesterenko, who rent a house from the Doornekamps at 167 White Chapel Road, say heavy construction on the former farm fields surrounding their house started in August 2024 and has proceeded at a furious pace.

“Large scale work is being carried out all around us, but we have no idea what they are doing,” says Mr. Nesterenko. The couple sent a formal complaint to Council detailing the ongoing destruction of land still zoned agricultural on July 8.

The south side of White Chapel Road is now lined with a 25-foot berm which hides a rock quarry. Yet much of the land is still zoned Rural 1.

Signs warning Danger and No Trespassing Allowed are everywhere. Shipping containers are placed to block off access points.

I drove out to White Chapel Road on 8 July, after the Nesterenkos told the Gazette they had received a warning they would soon be evicted.

The family has been threatened with eviction twice. On July 7, Ben Doornekamp advised the Nesterenkos that they would soon be given the “minimum” notice to leave.

“Due to start of future port development, all structures within attached circled area below will be demolished. Date to be determined, but as per the tenant landlord act, minimum notice will be given,” he wrote in a text message.

A map detailed three huge barns for demolition — and the family’s home.

“Those used to be wheat fields all around us,” says Mr. Nesterenko sadly. He details ongoing disputes with and harassment from the Doornekamps. Dump trucks piled with rock and topsoil trundle all around us, and five huge steel chutes for tumbling and transporting aggregate are clearly visible in the distance.

A sign on a neighbouring residence, also owned by the Doornekamps, which fronts directly onto the road, reads, “Sergei and Yulia Nesterenko do not live here. Do not leave mail or packages for them.” The Nesterenkos live directly in behind and are having difficulty receiving their mail.

In their letter to Council, they note, “we are particularly concerned about the proximity of this construction to a shared well, which supplies drinking water to multiple residences including ours. There is a serious risk of contamination due to ongoing ground disturbance by large construction vehicles.”

Mr. Nesterenko points to a makeshift road that runs directly overtop the pipeline running from the well to his house. He describes days without water.

As we watch, over the space of about 15 minutes two or three dump trucks filled with soil and rocks come out of the Picton Terminals site, cross White Chapel Road, and carry it over the fields. Another three trucks are at work in front of us, moving rock and topsoil from the former wheat fields. Our every movement is observed by men who suddenly appear to just stand around.

It is not clear what is happening. All the Nesterenkos know is that it goes on every day, including weekends, and sometimes far into the night. There is noise, dust, commotion, surveillance.

The Doornekamps did not immediately respond to requests for an explanation.

In their letter to Council, the couple ask the municipality to “investigate whether any environmental permits or assessments have been issued for this project; verify whether the developer has violated zoning or environmental regulations; and consider issuing a stop-work order, if construction is being carried out unlawfully.”

They note that the Doornekamps are operating as though they have already received an MZO.

The County’s interim CAO, Adam Goheen, is emphatic that the municipality will enforce its bylaws. “Staff have been made aware of these complaints, and we are currently investigating them,” he said.

“The municipality will take whatever enforcement action is deemed appropriate should we find that Picton Terminals is violating the current zoning by-law and/or the property’s legal non-conforming uses,” he said.

They note that the Doornekamps are operating as though they have already received an MZO, when they have not.

Councillor Phil St-Jean stressed, “carrying out industrial-grade activities on land zoned rural without approvals or permits is completely inappropriate.”

But Councillor John Hirsch worried that there was not much the municipality could do.

“They are operating in a gray area, an interregnum, between the County’s court case against them, which was initiated in 2022 to settle the matter of jurisdiction over municipal zoning bylaws, and the proposed 2024 settlement of that case, which turns on the MZO being granted,” he said.

“The Doornekamps have always maintained the County has no jurisdiction over its operations. So, they do what they want.”

Life on White Chapel Road

The Nesterenkos arrived in Prince Edward County as refugees from Ukraine three years ago. In a deputation to Council last February, Ms. Nesterenko said her family had fled one war zone only to find itself in another.

When they first came upon the house for rent, they saw majestic maple trees and lawns stretching to wheat fields on the edge of a beautiful bay. Historic farmhouses dotted White Chapel Road, including no. 130, the old Jessop farmhouse.

After years of what a neighbour called “incessant, aggressive bullying from Ben Doornekamp — I know his style as it’s what my own family has received,” the owners of 130 White Chapel sold their dream home in a deal that closed in 2024, just in time for the MZO deadline.

“He just keeps saying if you don’t take what I’m offering now, it’ll be less next year.”

Neighbour on White Chapel Road

“Ben Doornekamp comes and makes a lowball offer. And he explains that if you don’t take what he’s offering now, he will make an even lower offer next year, because your house’s value is going down every year with the expansion of his quarry activities, or his port activities, or whatever vague thing he says he will be doing.

“He just sits and waits. And in the meantime, he seems to be able to do whatever he wants.”

The neighbour, who did not want to be named, lives with his parents-in-law, wife, and children on a historic, 200-year-old family farm at the very end of the road. It has been in the same County family for generations. 160 acres stretch between White Chapel and Highway 49.

Mr. Doornekamp has been pressuring the family to sell, he says, “for five or six years.”

“He keeps saying if you don’t take what I’m offering now, it’ll be less next year.”

“This is exactly how farmland and farms are destroyed. One by one they disappear,” he says bitterly. “Our dreams of a future for our children on this land are rapidly disappearing. This guy seems to be able to just take over the whole road.”

Meanwhile, the Old Jessop Farmhouse at no. 130 has been demolished.

Before and After

Current entrance to 130 White Chapel Road, and new berm on land zoned Rural 1.

Opinion in the County is divided. Farmers only see the new grain silos on Picton Bay, which promise a cheaper and faster shipping option.

The Doornekamps seem bent on operating a huge rock quarry right in behind — an operation that has nothing to do with shipping grain, and which they are planning to expand with the MZO. Or before it.

Due to the late addition of 130 White Chapel Road to the Picton Terminals’ MZO application, the public comment period has been extended by one week, from July 10 to July 17. The comment portal is here.