To Whom it May Concern: …

To Whom it May Concern:
York 1 started this process by quietly buying up land in the Dresden area without any community notice or consultation with the presumption that this dump/recycling plant would be willingly accepted by the community. This assumption is far from true and the people from Dresden and surrounding area are incensed and quite angry about the whole idea. Provincial governments should be ensuring that each community is responsible for processing and storing their own waste rather than shipping it to someone else and making it their problem. Toronto should be responsible for its waste and the city planning departments should be forced to make a plan for how they are going to be dealing with their garbage no matter what the value of the land. London already receives all of Toronto's garbage by trucking it down the 401. It is not ecologically sound to haul truck after truck of waste for 2-3 hours for disposal. It is a waste of fuel and dangerous to an already far too crowded 401 highway.
Ontario needs to make a concerted effort TO PROTECT ITS PRIME FARMLAND AREAS. Dresden is one of them. OUR FARMERS PRODUCE a great deal of FOOD for Ontario and we should be thinking more about the future and not depending on other countries for our food when we can produce it ourselves. It makes no sense to put a dump/recycling plant on prime agricultural soil and it should not be allowed.
Dresden is a beautiful, small, and quiet town along the Sydenham River. People choose to live here because it is small and quiet and they enjoy living here for that unique reason. It is an agricultural community which revolves around a farming type of lifestyle. The Sydenham River Watershed has many unique and biodiverse species, some of which are endangered. At least 80 species of fish and 34 species of freshwater mussels are found in the Sydenham, making it one of the most species-rich watersheds in all of Canada. Molly's Creek also flows near the Sydenham (and the proposed site) and feeds into it so it is critical that the Sydenham watershed must be protected. More than 20 species of fish, mussels, and reptiles that inhabit the Sydenham are listed nationally as SPECIES AT RISK AND INCLUDE SPECIES OF GLOBAL CONSERVATION CONCERN. No one can guarantee that there will not be leaks or spills from York1 so why would this location be considered a suitable location for garbage disposal or a recycling plant? It makes absolutely NO SENSE. No one can guarantee the long term function of liners built to contain their waste either. I don't know anyone who wants asbestos trucked in to their community. Why would they? Why would we risk killing off rare species of mussels, fish and reptiles?
This original site was not meant to house the amount of garbage/waste that York1 is planning to bring. A full environmental assessment should be done and a traffic study should have to be completed during harvest season. Find out from a few local farmers and the canning factory in town when the traffic is at its worst. That is the only fair way to make a traffic study. Locals should have some say about whether this business is wanted in their area and community consultation and permission should have to be sought as is currently happening with the Teeswater site proposed to house nuclear waste. Much consultation has been ongoing with the community and native populations.
York 1 wants to locate their plant within a kilometre of the north entrance to Dresden. Well, welcome to Dresden, home of the York 1 Dump/Recycling plant. Why would anyone locate a dump so close to a town? It's unattractive and unwelcoming. Students arrive on buses from all directions coming to the high school which is a very short distance from the proposed site which is also not ideal. Nor is it ideal to locate it near the town cemetery, which is also close by. York 1 added truck traffic will pose a danger to our students and to our local farmers and residents. During farming season we have a high number of slow moving vehicles on our roads with farmers hauling crops, planters, combines, cultivators, combines, spraying booms, wagons, trucks, etc. and they slow traffic routinely, particularly during the tomato harvest to the canning factory in Dresden. Adding more trucks to the roads in high numbers like this will also present a danger to our local farmers who drive our roads regularly to do their work. There will inevitably be an accident caused by people trying to move around local farm vehicles. A small town like Dresden does not want the added noise and traffic added to our roads, which will also cause more pavement damage and require added cost for more road repair. The 24-7 traffic will cause noise problems for those in the vicinity of the dump/recycling plant as well not to mention the devaluation of the landowners' farms located nearby. Who is going to make up for their loss if this proposal passes?And who will continue to want to live across or in the vicinity of a dump/recycling plant that runs 24-7? There will be noise and light issues.
There is nothing that York 1 can propose to entice locals that this proposal is a good idea. Not funds offered, not added jobs, not anything. It is simply not worth the risk nor the cost it will be for our beautiful small town. People are not interested in concessions or bribes to conciliate their anger. York1 stands to gain huge profits and Dresden will suffer the consequences if this is allowed. Dresden will bear all the risk and York1 will make huge profits. It's another classic story of big business versus the little guy. This proposal implies that York 1 has plans to expand this site as well, considering all the land that they have bought. Dresden does not want to be known as a garbage dump site/recycling station and no berm is going to truly hide what goes on behind it.
For the aforementioned reasons, please think about making a wise decision for the community of Dresden. This proposal was rushed through and locals feel railroaded by learning of York1's plans. The small dump that was formerly used was never meant to house the type of operation that York1 has proposed. It will devalue our community appeal, disturb our small town quiet lifestyle and ruin prime farm land that could be used to produce food, not to mention the threat it would pose to the unique and endangered species in the Sydenham River. Hauling hundreds of trucks of garbage to Dresden on a daily basis does not make sense from an ecological standpoint either. Talk about reducing carbon emissions! This site is clearly NOT A GOOD LOCATION FOR YORK1! Please reconsider this proposal for the good of our community and its inhabitants. Dresden deserves better.