Plenty of opposition voiced to waste treatment facility in East Gwillimbury
By Bill Rea

A site in East Gwillimbury is still in the running to host the proposed residual waste facility that will be shared by York and Durham Regions, and there is lots of opposition from the prospective neighbours.

Several of them made their feelings known last week at a public consultation meeting, hosted by York officials.

"Does anybody want this project?" one man asked the audience of about 75, and several people around the room replied "no."

The proposed facility is slated to use thermal treatment (burning) technology on garbage that cannot be recycled or otherwise diverted from being dumped in landfill sites.

There are currently four sites being considered for this facility. Three of them are in Durham, in the Clarington area, and the other is in East Gwillimbury, in the area of Highway 404 and Davis Drive. The plan is to have one site selected by the end of September.

The site selection process is currently the subject of an environmental assessment. As well, there's been a recent preliminary health risk assessment feasibility study conducted.

Jim Mackay, of the environmental consulting firm Jacques Whitford, commented there are a number of advantages to the East Gwillimbury site, including the fact it's right next to the regional recycling facility and it's in an industrial area near Highway 404. Another advantage is the Region already owns the property. He added there are no real disadvantages, although the property is part of the provincial Greenbelt. He said the zoning on the site predates the Greenbelt legislation, which could mean the property is exempt from the regulations. Opinions are being sought to see if its appropriate for the site to be on the list.

Chris Ollsen, also of Jacques Whitford, said the risk assessment was subjected to a peer review, and it was determined that if anything, it erred on the side of caution. "I can live with that," he remarked, although he added there were some points raised in the study that still need to be addressed.

He added it's hard to say how such a facility will impact on health of people living nearby because such site-specific studies are waiting until a site has actually been chosen.

East Gwillimbury Town Council has already voiced opposition to hosting this facility.

Several people at the meeting from the town were backing that position. A couple of people were angry that a site on the Greenbelt was still under consideration.

There were also concerns about the impacts from all the trucks that will be going to the facility, where ever it's located. One man pointed out there are railroad tracks near all the Clarington sites, and he wondered if the garbage couldn't be shipped there by train. Dave Merriman, a project manager with the engineering consulting firm Genivar, told him there wouldn't be enough material to ship to make rail transport economical. He added the equipment needed to unload the garbage from the trains would be expensive too, and trucks would still be needed to get the trash to the trains. Ollsen added things like truck exhausts are being considered in the studies.

Another man, who said he lives less than a mile from the East Gwillimbury site, had understood residential areas had been filtered out early in the process, so he also wondered what this property was still doing on the table. Mackay explained the screening process looked at only what was on the properties. Consideration of what's around the sites is taking place now.

He also mentioned there are facilities like this in Europe with houses backing right on to their property lines.

One man asked about peer review funding for community groups. Andy Campbell, director of solid waste management for the Region, said host communities have been offered it, but not groups. He added no such request has been made by the Town of East Gwillimbury. Newmarket made a request, but it's not a host community, so it was turned down.

East Gwillimbury Town Councillor Marlene Johnston later said they are not accepting the notion that the grandfathering of the property over the Greenbelt provisions is valid. She added she personally believes a peer review is premature until a site is chosen.