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A lesson on our doorstep?
It was not included on the official agenda, but Uxbridge council opened its session on Monday with a discussion about the loads of fill being trucked into the former Kennedy House site.
The main issue was the fact that work was being done on a Saturday and no one on township staff or any members of council knew the trucks would be rolling through town on the weekend. Nor, apparently, did the township's consultant on the project. Obviously, being a Saturday, there were more people around to observe the steady stream of trucks. In just 15 minutes at the site, the Cosmos observed eight trucks unload their contents. That's one truck every two minutes.
However, what should be of concern is that, apparently, there was no one on hand to test the loads that were coming in for contaminants. That concern is heightened in light of the fact that there are now allegations that some of the material was coming from another originating point other than the one that had been approved. Those allegations have yet to be proved and the possibility exists that they are merely allegations and there is no contaminated fill at the Kennedy House site.
But the whole scenario points out the dangers inherent in fill operations. Unless they are monitored closely and full time, stuff can sneak by. We only have to look at our border with Scugog Township to see what can result. Although the Kennedy House operation is not classified as a “commercial fill operation”, because no one – we are told – is being charged to drop off each load, it nevertheless resurrected the subject of commercial gravel pit filling in Monday's council session.
Somewhat surprisingly, local activist Ann Holmes suggested it is time for Uxbridge to consider such operations in order to improve the township's coffers. We say surprisingly because Mrs. Holmes has, for years, berated various versions of Uxbridge council about dangers posed to the aquifers. And yet, this small incident at Kennedy House has shown that absolutely rigid, iron-clad rules and regulations are necessary to prevent contaminants from affecting the aquifers – and even that doesn't always work. Scugog thought they had such rules and regulations in place. The company involved in the gravel pit filling operation on Lakeridge Road, declared – after they had Scugog council approval - they were going to build a heliport on the site and, suddenly, the regulations didn't mean a thing. The site came under the jurisdiction of Transport Canada and Transport Canada has no regulations regarding the type of fill to be used.
Should Uxbridge council ever give approval for a commercial fill operation in a township gravel pit, what's to stop the pit owner from taking the same heliport stance and accepting contaminated fill? There are far fewer places around that accept contaminated fill and, as a result, much higher prices can be charged for taking such loads.
Just about every candidate who ran in the last municipal election stated their opposition to commercial fill operations in Uxbridge. Little wonder, then, that Ward Five Councillor Gordon Highet should declare that councillors were made to look like “idiots” when it became apparent that none of them knew about the work being done on Saturday.
No one is accusing the contractor, Progreen Demolition, of anything untoward in this incident. Yet if a simple incident of non-communication or miscommunication can possibly expose a property to contamination even when the scale of the fill operation is relatively minor, how great are the dangers posed by a full-scale operation in a gravel pit?
There are other troubling aspects to this situation. Public Works director Ben Kester says he doesn't know how many loads of fill have been brought in to Kennedy House. It seems to the Cosmos that that information would be basic. Mr. Kester also said it will take a couple of weeks to determine whether any of Saturday's fill came from a second, unauthorized site. Why would it take that long? And if the number of trucks rolling through town to fill in a relatively small hole causes so much concern and distress to residents, how are they going to feel if hundreds of trucks fill our roads on a daily basis for months or years to fill a gravel pit?
