My husband and I live…

My husband and I live directly behind the proposed waste processing site and proposed landfill site. We are within 540 metres of the proposed site. We have lived here for 30 years and worked hard to build up our property value and develop a piece of land which we love and of which we are very proud.
We are very concerned about this proposal for many reasons.

Setting up a facility such as this will cause our property value to drop immediately. Why should York1 be able to set up such a facility in OUR community and cause such a catastrophic impact on our property values just in the name of making money for the shareholders of York1 after we have spent our lifetime building up the value of our property. If they are allowed to proceed with this facility, they should be ordered to pay all homeowners in the vicinity the difference between what our properties were worth before York1's facility and the dramatic drop in value due to having a huge recycling facility and landfill in our back yard. They should not be able to get away with making money off of Dresden's residents' loss.

The subject property has NOT been operating as a landfill. The last time this site was used as a landfill was in the 1970's and ONLY for incinerator ash. The waste transfer site was used for wood chipping. Quite a difference to what York1 is intending to dump on our land.
For York1 to expect to be able to increase the area of the waste processing site to 25 hectares and allow daily receiving rate of 6000 tonnes per day of waste as well as the ability to store 34,800 tonnes of waste on the site as well as accepting organics, asbestos, tires - WITHOUT an environmental assessment illustrates the lackadaisical nature of this company. Trying to sneak in like a thief, piggyback on 50 year old permits with no regard for the impact on the environment or on the local residents - It is obvious that they are only concerned with making money - and have no concerns about the impact this facility will have on the local population, environment, property values and quality of life of the residents. Every action they have undertaken with respect to this facility has been secretive, underhanded and inadequate. We live 540 metres directly behind the location and we knew nothing about it until a concerned neighbour broke the news. York 1 have done the absolute minimum that they must and not one bit more. They have outright lied to local residents regarding the plans and the impact these plans will have on Dresden and area. They say whatever they need to say to try to shut up the protesters to this facility. They are doing the same to the Ministry of the Environment. They do not have a good reputation when it comes to safety.
How can they possibly be trusted to operate such a facility safely - just meeting absolute minimum code is not good enough.

We are concerned about the health of our water well. We do not have municipal water lines here - we depend on water wells. This is the water we drink, shower in, cook with, feed to our animals. We depend on the health of the local acquifer to provide safe, clean water to thousands of residents. York1 appears to have no concept of water wells and how vital they are to rural residents. When directly asked how they intend to ensure that they don't drain the acquifer when using copius amounts of water to process contaminated soil, the York1 "expert hydrologist" had no idea of what I was talking about. When asked how they intend to guarantee that their facility will not contaminate the water system and what their contingency plan was to protect local citizens if/when the water was contaminated, the Vice President - George - had no answer. All he could keep saying is that it would not happen. That is not an answer, George. That just tells us that York1 has not even thought about that occurrence and has no contingency plan. Once the water is contaminated, there is no going back from that.

York1's proposal wants to release product into Molly's Creek - the creek that runs right along the proposed site. This creek drains into the Sydenham River. The potential environmental disaster from toxic contamination is immense. They even sought the Ministry of the Environment's approval to do this and the Ministry approved it! Without telling anyone that this request was submitted and approved. What was the Ministry of the Environment thinking? Or did you just believe York1's lies?

York1 wants to operate this facility 24hours per day, 7 days per week. Why? What possible reason could there be for that type of facility? Just so that they can make money? This facility is not located in an urban centre where there is constant noise pollution and light pollution. This is NOT Toronto. This location is in the country. We have no noise pollution. It is extremely quiet. It is extremely dark. We pay a huge amount of municipal taxes for absolutely no municipal services for a reason - we choose to live in the country. We like the dark. We like the quiet. We like the space. That is our right as rural residents. If York1 is allowed to operate all day and all night long, every single day - we will have constant noise, constant light pollution, constant sound of grinding and shredding of construction and demolition waste, constant stream of trucks arriving and dumping and leaving. Why should we have to be subjected to that ALL THE TIME, EVERY SINGLE DAY AND NIGHT? Why should our quality of life be diminished in this way? That is not right. It is ridiculous and once again shows that York1 has no concern about the health and well-being of local residents.

York1's own proposal indicates their estimation that the facility will result in 700 trucks per day arriving at the facility. 700 trucks per day. That will be constant traffic. In a rural location. This is NOT Toronto. We do not have constant traffic, nor do we want it. Our roads are not designed nor rated for that type of loads and traffic. This is a rural area. There are hundreds of school buses on the roads morning and night. Our children ride their bikes down these rural roads. There are no bike paths. This is not Toronto. This is the country. This affects the safety of our children. There are farmers on the roads with their farm equipment. Again this affects the safety of our local residents. The noise, pollution, increase in traffic accidents due to these trucks will be tremendous. And once again, York1 does not care and does not have an answer to local concerns about these matters. All they care about is making money on the back of local residents and the environment.

To the Minister of the Environment - DO YOUR JOB. Protect the Environment. Not just Toronto interests but all of the people of Ontario. There should not be a facility like this in pristine farmland, close to ecological sensitive creeks and river and acquifer. Do not allow this facility to proceed.