Illegal fill site 'co-operating' after 'thumbing nose' at Town of Georgina

Baldwin residents saw close to 100 trucks entering site daily since late May

Yorkregion.com
June 19, 2018
Heidi Riedner

Dump trucks making a daily trek to an "illegal" fill site in Georgina for the past month sparking alarm from area residents over potential environmental effects from unregulated dumping and possible contaminated soil have finally stopped.

According to an update from the town’s development services department at council last week, the owner of 6017 Smith Blvd. in Baldwin is now “co-operating” with the municipality after ignoring court orders and requests to cease ever since area residents in the tiny hamlet noticed close to 100 trucks entering the site daily since late May.

Concerned about potential threats to the groundwater and nearby river from unregulated and potentially contaminated soil, resident Sarah Smithias reached out to various agencies, including the town, the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority and the Ministry of Natural Resources, in hopes they could stop the illegal activity.

“Nothing is being monitored and no one is stopping it,” she said. “This is a serious issue that could impact the entire watershed and that affects everyone, not just our neighbourhood or our community. And even if the fill is clean, it is still being done illegally.”

Mayor Margaret Quirk agreed, saying the owners of the property were “basically thumbing their nose at us at this point,” during an update on the situation to council June 6.

After being notified May 29 by area residents that trucks were entering the property, the town “immediately responded,” advised truckers that fill activities were not permitted and conducted an on-site inspection of the property, the town’s director of development services, Harold Lenters, said.

Town lawyers were asked to take “every step possible as quickly as possible” after an order served on the owners to cease was ignored.

“The papers that need to be filed and served on the owner are being done now,” he said.

“The town can’t physically stop it and it is frustrating because of what is happening. Nobody likes it, but unfortunately there is a due process that has to be taken.”

As of last week, however, there was no trucking activity in or out of the site and the town continues to monitor the situation, development engineering manager Zaidun Alganabi said, adding, “We are working with our lawyers, municipal law enforcement and external agencies to ensure the site is fully restored to its original state with no environmental impacts.”

He added the town does not have knowledge of where the fill came from and there is still fill on the site, based on investigations to date.

"The material will have to be tested before being exported out of the property in order to go to a proper dump site," he said.

Fill activities at the Smith Boulevard site have been a controversial issue dating back to 2013.

It has been subject to litigation in the past involving the Town of Georgina, the Ministry of Natural Resources and lawyers representing previous owners Marvin Blanchard and Leonard Rosenberg over fill applications and subsequent dumping activities despite Superior Court and Appeal Court decisions prohibiting the import of soil to the property.

The town has spent $54,000 to date on legal expenses regarding the property, which was recovered through legal proceedings.