As a longtime resident of…

As a longtime resident of Dresden I am opposed to YORK1 or any other company developing the property on Irish School Road in Dresden, associated with this ERO for a mega landfill site.
I am especially upset that we were promised a full environmental assessment and now that decision is trying to be reversed.
Having been a longtime resident I know that this landfill was only 2 acres and limited to ash and potash disposal from the former Dresden incinerator. The incinerator has long been defunct & so too this site for landfill use. This site in the late 1800s was used to manufacture clay tiles and bricks. The clay was mined from the area and the clay base has been depleted. This will allow the waste to leach contaminates into Molly's Creek which feeds into the Sydenham River which feeds into Lake Erie which drains into Lake St Clair. Molly's Creek & the Sydenham river is a natural habitat for numerous endangered species. The proposed landfill site abuts this Creek which floods yearly. The landfill lies within a flood zone. The landfill site lies below the water level and floods every spring. With rising water levels this problem only worsens which will cause the contaminants to enter the waterway and contaminate right down the length of the waterway contaminating water, area water wells and killing endangered species along the way.
I am also concerned about the methane gas already present and the very real possibility of explosions which could destroy the whole town and injure or in the worst case kill the citizens. Not just the population of Dresden which is 2800. There are over 600 students at the high school which is approximately 1km from the current landfill and only about 1/2 km from the proposed expansion. There is a private elementary school about equidistance. The Dresden elementary school with about 400 students is about 2km from the original site. These distances are well below the minimum standards for health and safety set out for a new landfill or a major expansion to an existing landfill. This expansion is more than 30X the size of the original size in ground area, that is a major expansion. The current landfill is a pit but the plans call to build a mountain of garbage over 80 feet high. The students are not just from Dresden they are from all the surrounding areas. The possibility of asbestos poisoning is a very real and dire threat. The students will be forced to attend school in the stench of the dump. The new proposed line abuts up to the town of Dresden and homes. However, all around the dump there are numerous homes that directly abut the dump site and the expansion area. The homes in and around the dump rely on well water and it will be contaminated. As the contaminants flow from Molly's Creek into the Sydenham it will continue to contaminate rural wells all along the way. In today's housing crisis are we just going to make more homes uninhabitable?
There is a fresh food canning plant 2km from the original site and 1 1/2km from the expanded site. The company cans the tomatoes grown in the fields abutting the site and surrounding areas. The tomatoes are unloaded outside the factory and floated in. Can you imagine the asbestos flowing unseen through the air contaminating the soup, catsup and canned tomatoes. There are other products like beets, potatoes etc. that are all stored in the yard of the plant while waiting to be processed. They should not be exposed to contaminants. These products are shipped and sold all across Ontario and Canada. There is a seed processing plant just over 2km away where they process organic soya beans. They are grown in the fields around the proposed site. In fact the properties that they have purchased to expand the landfill site to a mega dump site are fertile farmland. Farmers feed cities. You cannot just keep usurping good farmland or soon there will be none left to grow crops on.
Dresden is a small town surrounded by rural farmland. It is a beautiful little historic town. Home of the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian history. It is a proud little town with many heritage buildings including the iconic clock tower town hall and one of the few remaining Carnegie libraries still in use today. The town has beautiful gardens maintained by volunteers and they have won the title of Communities in Bloom several times. Dresden has also been dubbed Christmas town due to the beautiful decorations and town wide celebrations, parades and night markets. The town is a peaceful quiet town with an ice hockey arena (just beyond 2 km). To be overshadowed by the lights, smell, noise from the site and the 700 trucks per day would destroy what is so dear to our hearts and homes.
YORK1 or any other company should not be allowed to expand this site. It is not a fit or safe site for disposal. I respectfully beseech you to remove the defunct designation from this property or at the very minimum to reinstate the environmental assessment.