Residents concerned new landfill could become mega-dump

CTV Ottawa: Residents worry mega-dump is coming Neighbours of a landfill site near Spencerville say a new owner could expand the dump to accept trash from Ottawa, Toronto, even New York.

Where does all the garbage go? For Clare Kinlin, the answer is not Spencerville.

"It's easier to build a dump in our county now than it is to build a barn," Kinlin says.

The longtime Spencerville resident opposes a plan for Leeds Grenville County to sell a parcel of land to the Tomlinson group, in order to build a new landfill in Edwardsburgh/Cardinal Township.

"There's no financial benefit to us that would outweigh any risk it would pose to the environment," he says.

The sale is based on an environmental assessment that was approved by the Ministry of the Environment almost 20 years ago. Groundwater, animals and trees are just some of the concerns, but where the garbage comes from is more disconcerting to some residents.

Elizabeth Bannan heard trucks could be coming from Ottawa, Toronto and possibly upstate New York.

"It's coming from the States, it's coming from Toronto, a little much for a little place like this," Bannan says.

"(Tomlinson) said it at a public meeting with County council that they need to bring outside garbage in for this dump to be feasible," Kinlin adds.

According to residents, Tomlinson and the County have been negotiating about the sale of the land for at least seven years. When CTV reached out to the company, it said it would be "inappropriate to comment at this time."

Citizens Against the Dump is a group that also opposes the sale. They say at one of the public meetings, a Ministry of the Environment official called the EA situation "unprecedented." The original approval from 1998 is for a 35-acre dump on a 165-acre parcel of land, but the group believes Tomlinson is trying to acquire at least 500 acres and turn the area into a mega-dump.

"That's our fear, obviously, that this is going to get huge and I know the garbage has to go somewhere, but let's do it right," says the group's leader Kyle Johnston.

Johnston says he was shocked to find out that a socio-economic assessment on how the dump would affect land prices hasn't been conducted. None of the financial details have been released. That, coupled with the EA issue, has the group ready for a fight.

"Let's not base it on a 20 year old environmental assessment when it just, pardon the pun, just stinks," he says.

The Leeds Grenville County council will have their regular meeting Wednesday. Johnston plans to bring 2,000 signatures from a petition to that meeting.