The community Dresden came out in droves on Friday evening, March 1, 2024, as York1 Environmental Waste Solutions Ltd. held their second public meeting in regards to their proposed waste facility expansion project just outside of Dresden.
Protesters, who lined the streets outside of the Ken Houston Memorial Agricultural Centre for the meeting, emphatically and collectively shared their opposition toward the proposed project, located at 29831 Irish School Road.
Here are some photos and video from the meeting, shared with the Sydenham Current by Dresden resident Wendy Vercauteren:
Massive turnout for York1’s second public meeting in #Dresden on Friday, March 1, 2024. Video shared with the Sydenham Current by Dresden resident Wendy Vercauteren. pic.twitter.com/ViJYnyp4cm
— Sydenham Current (@SydenhamCurrent) March 2, 2024
North Kent Councillor Jamie McGrail, who earlier in the week made a successful motion at Council to publicly oppose the project at the Municipal level, told the Sydenham Current after the meeting that she’s proud of the community.
“I’m proud of Dresden for coming out and showing their support for not having York come to Dresden,” Councillor McGrail said.
“Inside and out. I’m not sure questions were answered last night by any means.”
Councillor McGrail said the format was a little different compared to the first public meeting last month, as eight tables were setup inside, where people had the opportunity to walk around and ask questions to the York1 officials in attendance.
The North Kent Councillor said she felt the community of Dresden made their intentions clear.
“I want to reinforce that up until February when we received notice from the Province, myself and fellow Councillors did not have a plan, we did not know the full extent and totality of what York was proposing,” she told the Sydenham Current.
“The Municipality got notice of their intentions at the same time as the public through the Province. Now, the second notification has gone out since Monday night for the landfill, so there are two proposals now out there.”
McGrail added: “It’s really important again that people get on and comment their grievances on this proposal. It’s important that the Province and the Ministry takes notice and that’s how we get them to take notice. That is their policies and procedures and how they go through these type of regulation changes.”
Along with his passionate comments at Monday’s Council meeting, and following the direction in Councillor McGrail’s motion, Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff sent a letter to Andrea Khanjin, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, reiterating the Municipality’s concerns with the proposal by York1.
Read Mayor Canniff’s letter, here.
More details about York1’s first application are posted on the Province’s website, here: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-8205
Anyone can submit online comments directly to the Province through this website by March 16, 2024.
In their second proposal, York1 officials say the application is for an amendment for an 8-hectare landfill for the disposal of non-hazardous solid construction and demolition waste from industrial, commercial, institutional, and municipal sectors.
“The application for amendment to the landfill is to allow a maximum fill rate of 1,000 tonnes per day, or 365,000 tonnes annually,” the notice to the Province states.
“At this fill rate, the 8-hectare landfill would reach capacity in 2032, assuming construction of the engineered landfill was completed in 2024. The application for amendment seeks to incorporate the maximum theoretical capacity of the 8-hectare landfill area being 1,620,000 cubic metres. The theoretical capacity includes an estimated 40,000 cubic metres of previously landfilled material (predominantly fly ash from an incinerator) existing in non-engineered cells. The application for amendment also includes environmental improvements to the existing landfill, including converting the non-engineered landfill into an engineered landfill meeting current environmental standards, and consolidating the existing buried wastes into an engineered landfill cell located in the northeast corner of the property.”
The notice also states: “The application for amendment is also to allow operations at the landfill 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year.”
The proposal also states there would be construction of a stormwater management system, including a stormwater management pond and stormwater collection and conveyance ditches, along with construction of screening berms along the south, west and north property boundaries.
The consultation period for the second proposal closes on April 11, 2024.
The public can comment of this second proposal, here: https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-8313
We’ll provide more details when they become available.
