When Pat Davis started noticing steel barrels with “unknown contents” appear on the vacant lot across from his house, he became concerned.
However, when he spotted a young boy nearly fall into one of the dumpsters beside the barrels, he knew action needed to be taken.
“It has been an on-going concern for some time,” said Davis, regarding the lot at the intersection of Murray Street and Duke Street in Wallaceburg. “Last night I looked out my living room window when I saw a young boy, who I thought was about six or seven years old and he was standing on top of one of these dumpsters, looking inside. I took another photo of him slipping down to the other side.”
Davis said he sent the pictures to some officials with Chatham-Kent.
“A lot of (the dumpsters) have broken lids or no lids at all,” he said. “They contain all sorts of different chemicals, there are barrels there. I expressed my concern for not only public safety, but about the environment. None of that really seemed to motivate the Chatham-Kent officials to do anything about it. I appreciate both Jeff (Wesley) and Sheldon (Parsons) responded and have asked for action, and it hasn’t translated yet.”
Davis said he contacted property standards with the municipality about two weeks ago when the barrels started showing up.
“It looks and appears to be a dump,” he said. “It has been operating for some time. Initially, my concern was people from the public going up at night and using it as a public dump, unloading trailers and truck loads of garbage and trash.”
Davis said the property standards division did get a hold of him, saying a letter has been sent to the owner asking them to clean it up.
“I didn’t think that was enough,” he said. “I have seen lots of kids playing on that space, and I expressed those concerns on Friday. It was just coincidental that this little boy could of easily fallen into one of those dumpsters.”
Davis added: “Murray Street is one of, if not the most traveled street in Wallaceburg. There are apartment units close by and schools that are both north and south of this property. I just think its a catastrophe waiting to happen.”
Davis said he would either like to see a fence installed at the property or have the items removed immediately, and also investigate who is operating this “dump.”
Paul Lacina, C-K’s chief building official, said the property is zoned industrial and is owned by CSX Railway.
“We had a written complaint received on May 22,” he said. “We did an inspection and sent a notice to the owners regarding the barrels and the dumpsters being onsite. We requested response by June 24, 2014. This follows the requirements under the property standards by-law that we follow for all properties.”
Lacina said the contents of the barrels is unknown.
“We don’t know what is in the barrels either,” he said. “We’re concerned about people going onto this property, but other than the owners they don’t have the right to go on this property, that would be trespassing. Without the owners authority, no one should be going on this property.”
Lacina said “at this time” he doesn’t believe the municipality has the right or authority to go on and fence the area.
“We are trying to get in contact with the owners, they are in the U.S.,” he said. “Hopefully they are a good neighbour for Wallaceburg and they take care of their properties.”
Lacina said there are rules to follow and processes to follow.
If the property owner does not comply, then the municipality would have to go to order.
“If this is not complied,” Lacina said. “Then we will take matters into our own hands to rectify the situation.”
Wallaceburg Coun. Sheldon Parsons said the concerns from the neighbours are legitimate.
“We have no idea what is in them,” he said. “Staff knows about it, and staff is doing what they can. There are limitations on exactly how much we can do. The one concern I received is there is hazardous materials in there, if there is then I’m sure staff will have the authority to move quickly.”
Parsons said Chatham-Kent owns the rail line, which is adjacent to this property, but does not own this lot.
“We do not own this lot where the Beaver Barn used to be located,” he said. “CSX kept that for some reason. They haven’t maintained it. There is weeds all over the place. It’s very discouraging to see that in the middle of town, but they sit in Jacksonville, Florida and don’t seem to care.”
Calls and e-mails by the Sydenham Current to CSX have not been returned.
Watch for more on this story.
Here are some photos of the site:
Call the MOE that is what they get paid for to deal with company’s that dump waste improperly