An upcoming public meeting is being held in Dresden to keep area residents informed on Chatham-Kent’s fight against reopening a dormant landfill.
The municipality is hosting the meeting at the Ken Houston Memorial Agricultural Centre on Monday, beginning at 6 p.m. The meeting will provide residents with an opportunity to ask questions and have their voices heard in a public forum.
The Ontario government announced the legislation last month, which proposes removing environmental assessment (EA) requirements for the property at 29831 Irish School Rd. to allow Mississauga-based company York1 Waste Solutions to re-establish and expand waste processing and transfer operations at the site.
Municipal staff, consultants, and members of CK Council will be attending Monday’s meeting to share information on the current situation.
Members of Dresden Citizens Against Reckless Environmental Disposal (C.A.R.E.D.), an anti-dump activist group, have stated that they will also be in attendance.
“We’re hoping that as Team CK, we can show our community we are working behind the scenes as hard and as fast and as best as we can to get the results to defend our community,” said Stefan Premdas, the chair of Dresden C.A.R.E.D.
York1’s plans to reopen a dormant landfill site were made public in early 2024 and were met with significant backlash. Chatham-Kent Council and municipal administration have unanimously opposed the project.
Premdas said he’s hopeful the public meeting will continue to help unify the community against the proposed landfill development.
“We hope people walk away feeling confident that they’ve got two strong teams… actively working every single day, and we will continue to do so until the very end of this,” he said.
