In the aftermath of an open house, Dresden residents remain firmly against a proposal to create a landfill and recycling facility north of Dresden. If anything, the open house left more questions than answers.
York1 Environmental Waste Solutions held an open house at the Ken Houston Memorial Agricultural Centre Friday night to try and answer questions from the public. York1 is proposing to expand recycling operations at a property north of Dresden. The company had five stations set up at the meeting with experts on hand to explain economic development plans, recycling operations, groundwater and hydrogeology, the current landfill located on-site and proposed improvements, and careers with York1.
A large crowd voiced their opposition to the plan outside the Agricultural Centre, many carrying signs. Inside, a recently-formed community advocacy group CARED (Citizens Against Reckless Environmental Disposal) was able to display informational posters detailing their concerns.
Dresden home builder Glenn Ford said the consensus of the public is that the proposal is not a good fit for the community, due to environmental concerns with the property being so close to area creeks.
“I’m definitely not for it. I personally think it’s cruel, that they would consider putting so close to town is cruel,” Ford said.
Chris Quiring, a Dresden resident said there were a lot of pat answers from York1 with not a lot of new information about the proposal.
Quiring said having the landfill and recycling facility so close to town is a ludicrous idea. He said the land has been a tiny facility for a couple of decades, and now York1 is planning on expanding it on a much larger scale.
“The way they’re using this tiny facility…because they don’t have to apply for an environmental assessment, it’s a back door. You can see it and everybody can see it,” Quiring said.
Surveying people as they were leaving, the format of the open house was an issue for almost every person who attended. York1 had five stations set up for people to ask questions, but unless you were within a metre of the York1 representatives, it was very hard to hear questions and answers.
York1 representatives declined to speak to CKXS News on Friday.
York1 has submitted a pair of amendments to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks to increase the area of the waste processing site on Irish School Road to 25 hectares and allow for up to 7,000 tonnes of waste to be received by the facility each day. They also applied to the province to re-open and operate the dormant landfill.