‘Its frightening’ Georgina residents fight Sutton Airport Development's plan for an aerodrome before it takes flight

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 28, 2023

Construction hasn’t start yet, but Georgina residents want to stop Sutton Airport Development in its tracks -- before the tarmac becomes a permanent fixture in town.

In mid-2022, Transport Canada approved plans by Sutton Airport Development Inc., a private development company, to build an aerodrome at 7486 and 7818 Old Homestead Rd., near Pefferlaw.

The new aerodrome would offer year-round service with two paved, all-weather runways fit for small- to medium-sized single- and twin-engine aircraft.

The plan -- officially opposed by York-Simcoe MP Scot Davidson, Georgina council and Georgina Island First Nation -- has local residents fearing the worst: contaminated fill trucked and dumped to the 340-acre site under the guise of building an aerodrome.

“I think this is just another opportunity to dump fill,” said Pefferlaw resident David Mitton.

And with the recent push for housing in the province, there will be plenty of fill -- contaminated or not.

Tracking contaminated fill is not as easy as testing each truckload, added Mitton, a retired heavy equipment operator.

And contaminated fill could take years to detect.

“Most often (the operator) scoops it, mixes it up and then dumps it,” said Mitton, who says he has seen the process first-hand.

“That’s repeated for every truckload, which would pass a dumpsite soil test. But the contaminated soil is still being dumped. It could be 10 years of dumping before anything is noticed.”

While there’s noise and truck traffic to contend with, the real concern is the impact on Lake Simcoe, he said.

“It’s frightening -- the proximity to the lake,” Mitton said. “Any rainwater will eventually end up in the lake."

And it's not just an issue for Georgina residents, but also Barrie and Orillia residents, he added.

"We all live on the same body of water.”

Mitton is one of 1,500 area residents who signed an online petition in the House of Commons pushing the federal government to reverse its aerodrome approval.

The Transport Canada application names Maurizio Marchioni, of March Law Barristers and Solicitors in Vaughan, as the sole proponent of Sutton Airport.

YorkRegion.com reached out to Marchioni with specific questions: when will construction start and what assurances are there to ensure contaminated fill will not be used on the site.

Questions were forwarded to Robert Fenn of Rohmer and Fenn Barristers and Solicitors in Richmond Hill.

“We can assure you that Sutton Airport is following all of the required procedures and regulations regarding airport development,” reads Fenn’s email.

“The subject process, which in Sutton Airport’s view, follows the normal and accepted practice required by the regulations for airport development.

“The application to Transport Canada should answer your questions.”

According to the application, construction was to start in 2022 and last three years.

The application also states Sutton Airport is designed to replicate the existing Buttonville Airport and to take over any “general aviation users displaced by (Buttonville’s) closure.”

And the proponent will “respect the material testing requirements” outlined by local bylaws and will comply with the latest soil testing requirements.

"This is an extremely difficult fight. We are not fighting city hall, we are fighting the federal government," said Pefferlaw Association of Ratepayers spokesperson and local resident Karen Wolfe.

Wolfe, together with MP Davidson, created an e-petition, which also urges the federal government to amend regulations to ensure plans to build an aerodrome cannot be used to illegally dump fill.

MP Davidson is also pushing for a federal ministerial order prohibiting the aerodrome development -- an issue that is also up for debate at the March 1 town council meeting.

"All of the legislation, regulation and policies that are in place both provincially and locally to protect us and the environment are useless,” said Wolfe of the federal government’s jurisdiction over the project.

The aerodrome site is considered protected countryside within the greenbelt.

Along with fears of contaminated fill, another issue is the lack of federal impact assessments.

The two runways at Sutton Airport are 991 metres and 893 metres in length -- falling short of federal impact assessment requirements mandated for runways longer than 1,000 metres.

The e-petition also notes an overwhelming majority -- more than 90 per cent -- of comments in the aerodrome application submitted to Transport Canada oppose the project outright.

The e-petition closes March 13.

For more information or to view e-petition 4213, visit petitions.ourcommons.ca (search Georgina).