Orillia wrestles with trashy past

Cloud hangs over south end: citizen 
By NATHAN TAYLOR, THE PACKET & TIMES November 13 2010
“Do you want to know or are you afraid to know?”
A little of both, says John Bleasby, answering his own question about what could be in the soil at his property on Cedar Island Road.

The province needs to set its records straight when it comes to former waste-disposal sites in Orillia, and that’s why it has asked the city to identify the former sites in its official plan, the approval of which is on Monday’s council agenda.
Council decided earlier to leave the six sites out of the plan — with the exception of the current, active landfill — but the city put them back in after being told by the province to do so, as many of the sites have not been remediated. The province also wants to know what was buried on the sites.
Each identified site has an assessment area of 500 metres, and homeowners within those areas are concerned about the implications.
One is the possibility of having to pay for remediation work. Another is the chance of additional costs if they want to develop on the properties.
“It’s very bad news for the homeowners,” said Bleasby, who has had property on Cedar Island Road since the early ’90s.
Nils Peterson has lived in the same area, on Davey Drive, for more than 15 years.
“I came home from a family vacation to find out my home is a dump site,” he said. “I mean, I knew it wasn’t the Taj Mahal, but…”
It was early last year when he found out about the area’s trashy history.
“At the very last minute, who comes along but the Ministry of the Environment? It upsets me because I didn’t have a chance for any input,” Peterson said. “Good heavens, it’s half of the south ward.”
Residents in that area know there was once a mill and that there’s some peat — which brings the potential for methane gas — but they’re now nervously interested to learn what else could be there.
“There’s a cloud hanging over not only our neighbourhood, but over vast areas of the south end,” Bleasby said. “At some point, people have to know what’s in the soil.”
City staff are recommending a $100,000 budget to bring in a consultant to determine the appropriate size of the assessment areas, which could reduce the impact on landowners.
Both Bleasby and Peterson are also concerned about the effects on the value of their homes.
When there are environmental issues, and depending on the severity, “it tends to detract from the value,” said Stewart McNeely, president of the Orillia and District Real Estate Board.
Not only could it affect the value, but it could also be more difficult for those looking to refinance a mortgage to get approval.
“These are worst-case scenarios,” McNeely acknowledged. “It could impact people negatively, for sure, but we should know where these problems exist. The greater impact, of course, is environmental.”
The owner of three gas-station properties, McNeely is well versed on the issues and said Orillia is not the only municipality dealing with these types of modern concerns as a result of historical actions.
“The way we did things 100 years ago is vastly different than the way we do things now.”
Although there is a desire to know what’s in the ground, Bleasby doubted council would have identified the sites “unless they were told to do so.”
Coun. Wayne Gardy is among those who don’t want the sites identified in the official plan.
“They’re insignificant,” said the councillor of Ward 1, which is home to much of the property identified.
Gardy said it’s a case of “big brother telling the boys how they want the game played” at the expense of local taxpayers and, possibly, the landowners.
“Are we going to compensate them for loss of value because the MoE wants more specifics?” he questioned. “It’s unnecessary.”
Gardy pointed out the soccer fields at Kitchener Park are on an old dump and local trails were constructed on former railroad beds.
“If we do nothing or we do something, they’re still going to be on the hook,” he said of local taxpayers. “Nobody’s going to gain.”
Officials from the planning and development department could not be reached for comment Friday.