Council votes to revoke C of A for Site 41

By John Edwards Simcoe.com May 25 2010
Site 41 is dead.
Simcoe County council voted Tuesday morning to ask the Ministry of the Environment to revoke the certificate of approval for the proposed Tiny Township dumpsite.
Council also approved an amendment – moved by Tiny Township Deputy Mayor George Lawrence – that calls for staff to change the property to its original agricultural zoning, which would bar the site from being used for waste management.
The proposed landfill has been controversial since it was approved in 2008. Local residents argued the dump would damage the aquifer located below the site.
There were several protests at the Concession 2 spot, which led to protesters being arrested.
The gallery was packed and the parking lot at the county administration building was full Tuesday, with council members and staff having to park at the Simcoe County District School Board building down the road.
Holland Landing resident Elsie MacLaren was one of those in attendance.
“It was very exciting,” she said. “To add that amendment that the site will no longer be used for waste is icing on the cake.”
Midland Mayor Jim Downer put forward another amendment calling for the Site 41 property to be offered to Tiny Township at “fair market value.”
“The battle has been long and hard,” he said. “Let’s turn the land back to agricultural. That’s what the people want.”
The amendment, though supported in principle by a number of councillors, was defeated. Tiny Township Mayor Peggy Breckenridge said she appreciated the gesture, but wasn’t prepared to support the amendment at this time.
County CAO Mark Aitken said the land was obtained through expropriation, so it would have to be offered to those from whom it was expropriated.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Doug White didn’t support revoking the certificate and the two approvals, arguing council should wait to hear what the waste management steering committee has to say. He also wanted to know what plans exist for the other landfills in the county.
“Why are we putting the cart before the horse? Because we want these people to go away,” he said, pointing at the gallery. “We want to remove all choppy water before Oct. 24 (municipal elections)…. We still don’t know where the waste of Tiny, Tay, Midland and Penetang is going to go.”
Ramara Township Mayor Bill Duffy added incineration and zero waste remain several years away.
“I wish we could do something with the land and get some of the money back,” he said.
Doug Little, Deputy Mayor of Adjala Tosorontio, who presented the minutes from the corporate services meeting, said he hoped those in attendance would work just as hard to find solutions for waste problems as they did fighting Site 41.
Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians lauded council’s decision.
“It’s a great day for the people of Simcoe County, for democracy and for the water,” Barlow stated in a press release. “I have seen communities from Bolivia to India and beyond fight to protect their water, and I will be telling them all about how the people worked together in Simcoe – the First Nations, the agricultural community, the cottagers and everyone else – and were able to end a 26-year battle.
“They never gave up, they never accepted that it was a done deal,” she continued, “and now they can look their grandchildren in the eye and say, ‘We did this for you. Now you protect it for your grandkids.’”