Letter To The Editor – By Mac Mazurek – Special to the Sydenham Current
This note is in response to the proposed re-development of the York1 owned former tile yard adjacent to the town of Dresden, Ontario.
A photo of the York1’s site and its proximity to Dresden and the water basin can be seen above.
Rural school buses use these proposed truck routes up to 4 times per day including during twilight and darkness in the winter.
Several foggy days every year contribute to collisions on these roads.
The large increase in traffic would increase the frequency of these collisions by a significant amount particularly noting that heavy trucks have poor stopping capability, and many are likely to be driven by inexperienced drivers who are building their driving experience to move to more lucrative employment.
The children of Chatham-Kent must not be put at increased risk just so that a private corporation can make money.
Large farm equipment uses these roads all year round to access various fields and grain storage.
The potential conflict would be severely heightened when many more heavy trucks per day use the same routes.
The anticipated 700 trucks per day (as many as 60 per hour!) would have to be excluded from Thamesville and Dresden town centers by edict of the Municipality to prevent traffic jams and allow existing commerce to carry on unimpeded.
The Kent Bridge issue would have to be addressed as well.
The southern and 401 corridor would be the main access roads to the proposed York1 site.
That would require 2 sets of lights at Kent Road 15 and the 401, probably 2 sets of lights at Victoria Road and the 401, a set of lights at Fysh Line and Victoria road (to bypass Thamesville), a set of lights at Fysh line and Kent Road 15, a set of lights in Kent Bridge, a set at Kent Road 15 and Base Line, a set at Base Line and Dawn Mills Road (to bypass Dresden), a set at Croton Line and Dawn Mills Road, a set at Croton Line and Irish School Road.
Additionally a set of lights at Rutherford would be required to handle traffic that cannot make use of Croton Road.
Additionally there would have to be a set of lights at Fairview Line and #40 Highway to handle traffic from the 401 and Highway 40 intersection enabling transfer to Kent Road 15 which would require another set at Fairview Line and Kent Road 15.
Kent Bridge residents would be furious at the traffic congestion that would ensue.
The citizens of Chatham-Kent reap no benefit from the lights thus YORK1 would be required to pay for them.
Chatham-Kent roads have poor substrates due in part to the many freeze-thaw cycles this area endures.
These road surfaces would have to be renewed at least every 5 years instead of the current 15 to 20 year spread.
YORK1 would be required to pay for that.
Off road ramps parallel to Irish School Road would be required on the York1 site to handle several queued trucks from both directions to prevent interfering with other road traffic.
Again this would be at York1’s expense.
These are just the practical consequences of increased heavy truck traffic on Chatham-Kent roads.
The environmental issues are another very serious matter.
Others have addressed this item but:
The current property has a surrounding ditch carrying runoff to the Sydenham basin and eventually to Lake St. Clair, passing by Tupperville, Wallaceburg, and Walpole Island and the Walpole First Nation.
One can be sure that they do not want leachate and runoff in their local waters!
For sure Mitchells Bay residents don’t want it either!
THERE IS NO WAY TO ENSURE RUNOFF AND LEACHATE CANNOT MAKE IT INTO THE WATER BASIN DESPITE YORK1’S ASSURANCES.
Local water wells will be detrimentally affected causing issues that can affect the health and welfare of local residents.
The only remedy would be to provide Municipal water to every residence that could be affected.
York1 must therefore pay for the waterline installation as well as the hookups to local buildings and pay for the reconfiguration of the water hookups for those buildings.
The annual cost of water usage for those buildings must be covered by York1 as those buildings, previously on well water, had no charges for water from the municipality.
Chatham-Kent does not need a Walkerton type tragedy!
The reduction in property values (and consequent reduction in municipal tax revenue) should be borne by York1.
Residents within a kilometre will be affected.
The noise, stench, bird droppings, and flying debris will ruin the adjacent properties and interfere with the use of properties of residents living in the North subdivisions of Dresden.
Using some of the most productive agricultural land in Ontario as a dump site should automatically preclude any thought of expansion of the existing York1 site.
The municipality and the Environment Ministry would have to prevent that from happening.
In summary, one can easily ascertain that the York1 proposal is a detriment to Chatham-Kent, its residents, businesses, and property tax base.
If York1 is forced to pay for all the items mentioned above (as it should be if their proposal is granted) one can see that the proposed operation is not financially viable.
There will be NO goodwill locally to York1 and the MOE and the provincial bureaucracy and no benefit to the citizens of Chatham-Kent.
Current land fills are located away from town centers in areas served by roads that are lightly used or situated so that there is minimal disruption to regular traffic and no disruption to existing businesses.
Landfills are already shunned by larger communities who want the problem to go away and be borne by others.
Why put the problem on outlying communities when it is caused by large urban centers.
They should have to endure the mess and stench in their own backyard.
The underhanded way in which this landfill proposal was organized speaks very poorly to York1’s intent to be a good corporate citizen.
Past being prologue, trust in York1 to fulfil its citizenship duties is non-existent.
Stop this poorly developed attempt to circumvent existing environmental laws!
Private profit should never override existing citizen rights!
– Editor’s note: This letter has been edited for accuracy.
