Do you support a landfill in Dresden? Ontario wants to know

The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks has launched a proposal that – if accepted - would require York1 Environmental Waste Solutions to do a full environmental assessment.

Residents, business owners and the municipality now have until May 10 to submit a comment.

The Toronto-based company wants to re-establish a landfill and expand waste processing at 29831 Irish School Road, just north of Dresden to open a regenerative recycling facility.

Company officials say it would be for recycling of construction materials like bricks and wood.

The landfill would never be used as a residential waste facility, York1 spokespeople have repeatedly told CTV News.

“I encourage everyone to submit comments to the latest ERO posting prior to the May 10, 2024 deadline,” Mayor Darrin Canniff wrote in a news release March 28. “To reiterate, I would once again like to make it clear that I stand with the people of Dresden, with the people of Chatham-Kent, and with our neighbours in the County of Lambton.”

Dresden C.A.R.E.D. (Citizens Against Reckless Environmental Disposal) is a grassroots group which has been lobbying against the project since learning about it in mid-January.

At that time, York1 had two applications before MECP to put the property in their name and to re-establish the permitted uses on the property.

Residents are worried about safety (from increased transport truck traffic), environmental impact (a creek runs right through the site), and property values (the location is just one kilometer town).

This latest proposal is essentially the ministry asking if it should designate the project under the Environmental Assessment Act, which would force York1 to conduct a thorough review of their project and its potential impacts.

“We have heard concerns from the people of Dresden,” Kathleen O’Neill, Director Environmental Assessment Branch for MECP wrote to the municipality in a letter on March 26, informing Chatham-Kent about their own proposal. “We recognize the potential impact that a landfill of this size could have on local residents and the surrounding environment.”

An assessment of the site - formerly known as the Dresden Tile Yard – has never been completed because it predates Ontario’s “environmental assessment requirements for landfills”, the proposal reads.

“We want to make sure we hear all comments before any decisions are made about designating the project,” O’Neill wrote in her letter.

Here is the link to MECP’s request for comment