A community group opposing plans to reopen a dormant landfill in Dresden is doing some digging following the recent sale of the property to a new corporation.
Mississauga-based company York1 Environmental Solutions has sold a major portion of the 29831 Irish School Rd. property to Whitestone Fields Ltd. for $2,527,965. The sale was finalized on February 4.
Nearly a year ago, following significant public outcry, the province announced that York1 would have to conduct a full Environmental Assessment (EA) at the property in order to move forward with its plans to expand the site into a regenerative recycling facility.
Dresden Citizens Against Reckless Environmental Disposal (C.A.R.E.D.), a local activist group formed to oppose the landfill development, was made aware of the property sale last week and has been looking into how the change in ownership will affect proposed plans for the landfill.
“Obviously, we don’t have all the details yet but on the surface our landfill expert tells us that the EA is designated on the property, not on the company,” said Stefan Premdas, chair of Dresden C.A.R.E.D. “So any landfilling activities, by any corporate name is going to be subject to the comprehensive environmental assessment.”
Premdas pointed out that the new owners of the property have ties to York1.
According to provincial documents, Whitestone Fields Ltd. is owned by Brian Brunetti, the current president and COO of York1, along with Andrew P. Guizzetti and Daniel G. Guizzetti who are founders of Empire Communities. Empire is one of North America’s largest privately held homebuilders.
“We’re realizing it’s a bit of a corporate shell game that appears to be being played with us where they’re changing corporate names but it’s still the same people behind these entities,” said Premdas. “It’s still the same players.”
Documents also show that Whitestone Fields Ltd. has only been registered as a corporation since January 13, 2025, with a head office at First Canadian Place located in the Financial District of Toronto.
“It’s just really odd that they created a corporation in January and then two and a half million dollars shows up in the corporation to buy this property, and it’s the same people,” said Premdas.
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent, which has also opposed the proposed landfill development, told CKXS that administration just recently learned about the ownership change.
“We were not given any prior indications to suggest there would be a change in ownership,” said CK spokesperson Eric Labadie in an email. “We have not had any contact from York1 and we haven’t heard anything further from the province regarding this file.”
