What the heck is happening north of Dresden? More than a year after York1 purchased a former landfill on Irish School Road just a kilometre out of town, no one really seems to know.
Initially, York1 stated they wanted to bring it back to life, add a recycling operation and have a steady stream of trucks hauling materials to the site from the Greater Toronto Area.
Queue the community uprising. Dresden-area residents responded very vocally and visibly. They quickly organized, forming Dresden C.A.R.E.D. (Citizens Against Reckless Environmental Disposal).
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent voiced its opposition as a host municipality for such a facility so close to Dresden and near watercourses that feed into the environmentally fragile Sydenham River.
It reached Premier Doug Ford, who stated during an interview in Windsor that if the people didn’t want it, then it wouldn’t happen.
“If the people like something, we do it,” Ford last summer. “If they don’t, we don’t do it. It’s about as simple as that.”
However, nothing was shut down. In place now is an Environmental Assessment, which could take several years, but little else.
The fact that York1 recently sold the property to a different corporation – Whitestone Fields Ltd. – means very little. After all, Brian Brunetti, current president and COO of York1, is part of the ownership team at Whitestone Fields Ltd.
A total of $2.527 million changed hands, sliding from company to company.
That’s all that has changed. There is nothing from the province on Ford’s uttered pledge that if the people didn’t want it, it would not happen.
The 80-plus-acre parcel of land was operated as a landfill for the Town of Dresden prior to amalgamation in 1998. It was then sold and operated as a wood pallet disposal operation.
Dresden residents have not parked their protest. They continue to keep the engine running, foot near the gas pedal, ready to respond as needed.
They’ve got groups such as Environmental Defence Canada in their corner, and have legal support from the Canadian Environmental Law Association.
But, given the close proximity of the landfill to the community, including a school, as well as Molly’s Creek, which feeds into the Sydenham, one would think the province would take over the wheel to ensure nothing happens at the site.
