Municipal officials are honing their battle plans in the fight to prevent a dormant landfill near Dresden from reopening.
Chatham-Kent will face York1 Environmental Waste Solutions in Superior Court on September 21, defending its position that the proposed waste and recycling facility on Irish School Road requires land use planning approvals, including zoning, official plan, and site plan approval from municipal council.
York1 argues it does not need council approval to proceed, claiming it has the right to use the property without changing existing zoning or official plan restrictions.
“This case just deals with zoning on the property and whether the property has an existing lawful right to continue to use the property, or to use the property for their proposed landfilling and waste collection purposes,” Emily Crawford, Director of Legal Services for Chatham-Kent, told Chatham-Kent Council earlier this week.
Crawford said she does not expect the hearing to last multiple days, but noted that a decision is unlikely to be issued immediately.
“The judge will do what’s called a reserve, meaning they will take time to consider the arguments from both parties and issue a written decision at a later date,” she said.
Council voted unanimously to defend the court application against York1 and approved up to $250,000 from the Insurance and Risk Reserve and Strategic Reserve for legal and related costs.
“This is a very unique situation that we are in,” said Jamie McGrail.
“To me, or to us as Chatham-Kent, it is very unprecedented in how we move forward in our fight to defend Dresden.”
A report presented to council also outlines additional steps being taken by the municipality, including hiring a traffic engineer to study the potential impact of truck traffic on local roads and retaining additional experts as needed.
Administration is also hoping to hold public meetings for community members ahead of the September court date.
