I wish to inform you that…

I wish to inform you that all proposals to "reopen" a proposed land fill near Dresden by York1 (or others representing York1) should be denied. You should realize that this site was used by the Town of Dresden as location to place ashes from the town garbage incinerator 50 years ago. The incinerator was used to replace an old location on the banks of the Sydenham River where town garbage was buried. This was done at the recommendation of the Ontario government. After a short period of time, Ontario did not like even the ashes from the incinerator placed near the river, so Ontario suggested that Dresden truck the ashes to a former location that Dresden owned where clay was dug to make clay tile. In those times, both Dresden and Ontario thought this was an acceptable solution for the ashes. I will admit that if the incinerator was not operational, then the garbage truck took the garbage directly to the ash dump location. This was only done by exception and was not a weekly occurrence. So, the Proposed site was NOT intended as a "dump" for anything other than ashes. There was never ANY environmental consideration at that time by Dresden OR Ontario, since what was done back then (about 50 years ago) was considered acceptable by Dresden and Ontario based on common practice at that time.
Any and ALL new activity at this location/site should be considered in the same way as if it was new and starting from scratch. I assume that this site would NOT meet ANY characteristics that are desirable for a recycle plant and landfill/dump if we wish to have a modern location what represents MINIMAL risks to human health and the local environment in the nearby area.

My concerns are as follows:
1 The site location is far too close (between 300 meters and one kilometer) to several thousand people. These neighbors should not need to endure ANY negative effects from the site.
2 Leachate could not be contained properly on site since the location is in the flood plain of the Sydenham River.
3 Landfill type pollution in many forms including odors, wind born items or articles, sound pollution, light pollution, traffic pollution, noxious/dangerous/poisonous gases would negatively affect nearby neighbors.
4 Wildlife in the area would be negatively affected in the area.
5 Other nearby "dump" and recycle locations appear to have done a dismal job of containing leachate and ground water protection and have failed to control odors and smells found to be offensive by those living nearby.
6 Aquatic species would decline by ANY runoff from this proposed site. The Sydenham River has many unique species which are already endangered and is a spawning river for important and sought after fish, including pickerel/walleye and sauger.
7 Historically, persons responsible for ensuring discharge water quality from industrial settings have an old saying that "dilution in the solution", meaning if you add enough water, the parts per million becomes low enough to discharge anything straight to water courses and streams.
8 Ontario guidelines for recycle and landfill/dump operations appear decent until I read about alternate or contingency plans for release of storm water and leachate in the event of an "upset" in operations which could mean anything unforeseen or unplanned.

The National Library of Medicine, in Bethesda Maryland, USA suggests the following Criteria for the design and operation of landfills to have minimal effects on the environment and human health.
1 Distance from the nearest water supply source should be 5 kilometers
2 Depth of material added to be less than 3 meters
3 Area of site to be less than 5 hectares
4 Depth to existing ground water level to be greater than 20 meters
5 Permeability of soil or the percolation rate to be very low
6 Ground water quality in the area to remain potable
7 Distance to critical wildlife habitat to 25 kilometers or more
8 Distance to the nearest airport to be 20 kilometers or more
9 Distance from the nearest water body to be 8 kilometers or more
10 Underlying soils to be 50% clay or more

The Irish School Road property does NOT meet optimum Ontario provincial requirements for a NEW landfill site, because it is too close to Molly’s Creek, too close to existing water supply sources (such as area drinking water wells), that it would negatively affect ground water and wildlife habitat in the area, and is NOT a desirable location because it is too close to several thousand neighbors who don’t want the mess of a landfill and who would experience the negative effects of the site, such as increased heavy truck traffic, reduced property values, nasty odors emitted, wind born contaminates on their property, light pollution, noise pollution, and unsightly views of the facility?

Do the right thing and consider this fairly but honestly. There are other locations where a proper and safe land fill might be established, that would involve far less trucking. Irish school road is NOT one of those locations.