I have been a resident of…

I have been a resident of Dresden for nearly seven years now, and I know that big multi-million dollar business owners from Toronto may not care about the lives of people in small town Southern Ontario, but in this town we don't just care about money, we care about each other. My husband and I bought our first, and second homes in Dresden. We had our two children here and plan to raise them here. We chose Dresden because it's a beautiful town with friendly, hard working people who value a sense of community and the natural beauty around us, and to allow a company like York1 to come in and create a monstrous landfill within 1KM of the entire town would be cruel. There are so many reasons why this proposal should be denied and York1 should find another location for their future 'megadump'.

First, and most importantly, the LOCATION of the landfill. Regulations state that a landfill must be 3.5km away from a town, and this "existing landfill" which has not been used in years, is within 1km of our entire town. This alone should halt all further plans for York1. This poses a LOT of risks and worries for the residents of Dresden including potential pollution, affected air quality, hearth concerns, noise pollution, increased traffic, and smell. York1 is a company based in Mississauga, and they are proposing for thousands of tonnes of waste to be brought down the 401 to Dresden daily to their site that they plan to operate 24/7. Dresden is an approximate 20-25 minute drive to the nearest 401 on ramp, meaning these large trucks would have to travel through several other small towns to get to their facility. I do not understand why York1 doesn't build their 'recycling facility' closer to the GTA, further away from a town, further away from thousands of residents who do NOT want to live close to a dump, and closer to the highway. I know they claim the trucks will not drive down the main street but we all know they are just telling us that.

There have been several environmental groups speaking out about the potential impact this proposed waste facility will have on Molly’s Creek (a creek on the property that leads into the Sydenham river). This river contains many species that are threatened or endangered, and further harm will be caused to these species from waste water and run offs that York1 plans to dump into Molly’s Creek. I have attached an article from Environmental Defence Canada that lists the specific species at risk.

Truck traffic is a HUGE concern for the residents of Dresden if this plan goes through. Our small town has one main road that runs from one end to the other. There is no reasonable way to get the Irish School Road (the site York1 is proposing to expand) without travelling directly through town. This main road houses our elementary school, our high school, the only facility daycare in town, and at least one home daycare that I am aware of. Therefore, almost every child in our town walks, bikes, or is driven to school on this main road every week day. My oldest child is 4 years old, he will be starting school this coming September at the elementary school. If York1’s proposal is accepted, that means hundreds of large trucks will be travelling through our small, once quiet town on a daily basis, 24 hours a day. As a mother, I can’t help but worry this poses a massive safety risk to all of our children. Especially when I read the google reviews for York1 and see all the poor ratings, complaints, and concerns about their employees and their poor driving abilities.

Although the proposal states “construction waste”, many of the Dresden residents are worried about the smell. The proposal asks for a portion of the site to be used as a landfill for waste that cannot be recycled and this poses a concern to our overall quality of life.

Which brings me to my final point. Property value. Studies show that living close to a landfill decreases your property value by 30%. Although this site is classified as an ‘existing landfill’, it was not used in this manor in the past and was only used for small quantities of ash disposal, not nearly the massive facility York1 is proposing. As I previously mentioned, the people of Dresden are hard working, good people. Our town was starting to thrive, there are new businesses opening, new subdivisions being built, we do not deserve to have our property values plummet because a company from Mississauga wants to bring in hundreds of truck loads of waste and garbage and plant it all right in our backyard. There has to be another property closer to Toronto, and farther away from a community of people who DO NOT want a site like this opening.

During an ‘information session’ York1 held at our local arena - which not surprisingly is ALSO located on our main road - the vice-president of the company told us that an environmental assessment didn't need to be done for this project because it’s an ‘existing landfill’. What they are proposing is a far stretch from what the ‘landfill’ use to be decades ago - a storage site for ash and a recycling operation that changed wooden pallets to wood chips. It is well known that YORK1 has purchased several acres of surrounding farmland for future expansion.

The Chatham-Kent city council is completely against this proposal being approved; nothing about this is good for our town or our economy. Many aspects about this proposal are fishy and they seem to be skirting around the truth for their plans. This would clearly benefit the pockets of the YORK1 owners but would have no benefit to the residents of Dresden who care so deeply about this town.

I cannot think of one positive thing this proposed expansion could bring to our town. I truly hope the resident’s concerns are considered; we are the ones who live here, we will have to deal with the consequences of this development.