You may have heard about ED-19, a proposed waste management site in Edwardsburg-Cardinal Township. This subject has been the focus of the last few meetings of Counties Council and Committee of the Whole and will likely continue for the immediate future. I thought you might want to have a briefing on the issue and have copied the following information from the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville website. I also included the link at the end of the text.
There is a reference in the background information that states “As noted above, the negotiations with Tomlinson are ongoing. Such discussions and negotiations are confidential and meet the requirements of the Municipal Act accordingly.” At this time (March 10, 2017) there are no negotiations with Tomlinson or any other company. Two notices of motion – one from Mayor Baptista, Leeds and Thousand Islands and the other from Mayor Sayeau, Edwardsburg-Cardinal – were served on Tuesday at the Counties Committee of the Whole meeting and are on the agenda for Counties Council meeting being held on Thursday, March 23, 2017. Both offer recommendations that require the MOECC to confirm, in writing, the validity of the Provisional Certificate of Approval before any further discussion occurs by the Counties.
Please call if you have any questions. 273-9195
Background Information
In the early 1990s, the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, along with the City of Brockville and the Town of Prescott, undertook a lengthy waste management master plan process. This process was encouraged by the province, which provided funding in order to undertake the needed studies, engage consultants, and consult with the public. This process was a provincial priority due to the general lack of long term waste management planning and pending closures of landfills across the province as well as the fact that many of the existing landfills had been sited out of convenience and started many years before without regard to potential impacts on the environment. The Province’s preference was for regional sites that would be appropriately sited, meet modern design and construction standards, be financially feasible, and protect the environment.
By the late 1990s, the municipalities had completed the Master Plan and a full Environmental Assessment. Based on these, the preferred site was selected, referred to as “ED-19”. This site is located in the Township of Edwardsburgh Cardinal, at the west- end of Byers Road. Two of the main reasons the ED-19 site was identified as the preferred site were that there is very limited development in the area of the site and the subsurface conditions provide a high degree of natural protection for groundwater. The site selection process included a considerable amount of public consultation including open houses, public meetings, workshops, newsletters to all households, deputations with the Steering Committee, agency consultation, and meeting with the Edwardsburgh Council. A Public Liaison Committee was actively involved in working with the Steering Committee and public.
The future waste disposal site is approximately 165 acres, with only 35 acres to be used for the landfill footprint. The Counties purchased 478 acres, including some of the subject lands, and lands directly adjacent to the proposed site, while another 100 acres of lands remain in private ownership. The approved permitted capacity of the site is 1.56 million cubic metres which includes the volume for waste plus daily and intermediate cover material. This would equate to a minimum of 25 years of site life based on a permitted annual tonnage of 50,000 tonnes of waste disposed per year. This would equate to approximately 20 to 25 vehicles per day consisting of 7 tandem waste packer trucks, 3 transport truckloads of waste and 10 to 15 cars and pickups daily (based on 6-day/week operation).
In 1998, the Province of Ontario granted the Counties a Provisional Certificate of Approval. This document enables the Counties to develop the subject lands as a regional waste disposal site. There are numerous conditions to the Provisional Certificate of Approval, including:
- – environmental protection (groundwater, surface water, air, etc.);
- – site design;
- – upgrading of access roads and other related infrastructure;
- – operational requirements;
- – annual monitoring and reporting: and,
- – closure plan
This Certificate has been valid and in effect since 1998. Over the past eighteen years, the Counties has considered several times the opening and development of ED-19, but after each study/analysis, the Counties found the site was not economically feasible at the time. The tipping fees required from users would far exceed the fees being charged by the private sector for waste disposal. The key reason was the significant capital investment to open and develop the ED-19 site ($15 to $20 million). Another issue was the fact that numerous Leeds and Grenville municipalities still had capacity at their own local sites and therefore the volumes of waste were not sufficient to cover costs. Over the years, many of those local municipal landfills have closed, and the costs of tipping at the private sector landfills have risen.
Robin, The Mayor 
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