After being rejected a couple of years ago, Ospringe is once again being considered the best place to put a transfer station that would serve the residents of Erin and Guelph-Eramosa Township.
County council received a report for information from SNC Lavalin, of Toronto, an engineering and constructor company that did the original county study in 2002-03.
Company engineers had considered eight possible sites for the transfer station in that early report, and this time they also considered lands adjacent to the current Hillsburgh transfer station.
The county purchased 116 acres of land adjacent to that site recently in order to have a buffer due to leaching of garbage.
But Lavalin engineer Darrin Dickson considered the Hillsburgh site and in its rating criteria, found there were few reasons to keep the transfer station in that area.
Among the criteria Dickson considered are: road access, distance to various centres, convenience for rural population, wellhead protection area (new, from previous criteria that was used in 2002-03), land use compatibility, ownership, agriculture, cultural, visual esthetics, site services, site size, and technical issues.
He concluded the site that had been rejected by county council a few years ago still is the best location for a transfer station. The Ospringe site, “is reconfirmed through this analysis as being the preferred location for development of a transfer station given:
– its centralized location, very conveniently located along a major travel corridor;
– lack of significant environmental concerns; and
– its large size, offering flexibility for future expansion related to increasing waste volumes and ranges of services offered.”
Conversely, “the lands adjacent to the Hillsburgh site, is the second lowest ranked site of the nine sites evaluated. This is despite the fact that it offers the largest initial working size of all options considered, and presumably would offer good flexibility for future expansion if required to address changes in waste handling volumes or alternative services (although not all of the site is suitable for development of this type).”
Dickson said the Hillsburgh site has the following flaws:
– distance from the population in the service area;
– inconvenience for a large part of the rural population within the combined services area; and
– on site, and nearby environmental constraints, in particular as it is the only site encroaching on core Greenland property, as well as its proximity to a provincially significant wetland.
County councillor and Erin Mayor Rod Finnie has indicated his municipality wants to purchase a large parcel of the land recently purchased by the county, for expansion of Barber Field for parking and more soccer fields.
He explained prior to that portion of the meeting that there is a subdivision going in at Hillsburgh, and Erin hopes to have bike trails run through it.
The town wants to buy the land between the subdivision and Barber Field, so there will be a connection between the field and Hillsburgh.
When council considered the report, councillor Lou Maieron, who fought against the Ospringe site after being elected in 2003, criticized the report because, he said, there was such a basic error that it calls into question all the other statements that were made. Maieron said the address for the Ospringe site does not technically exist.
“If the consultant can’t identify the preferred, site, it leads me to question his analysis,” Maieron said.
He also criticized the Ospringe site by noting “Put it in between two urban centres, and make it inconvenient for everyone.”
He argued expanding the Hillsburgh site would be easier and best all around. He said the transfer station could be moved from atop the old dump and adjacent to the current site, and a transfer station there would not face much protest as the Ospringe site has, because people are used to the Hillsburgh operation, and, finally, since there is no transfer station in Guelph-Eramosa, maybe the site should be located near Rockwood.
As for the Hillsburgh site, he said, “If we build it better, who can complain – because it’s been there 20 years. Why seek a new site? Why look elsewhere.”
Maieron said the criteria used to select Ospringe was “very arbitrary,” and, “There’s a lot of good reasons to put the site where it will not create residents’ complaints.
Warden John Green said that information was noted in the report.
But other councillors were not interested in immediately re-opening the debate.
Councillor Walter Trachsel pointed out the report was sent to council simply as information, with no other action being taken immediately.
“Why are we discussing this? It’s wasting time,” Trachsel said.
Councillor Chris White said he had wanted some “context” for choosing a site, and, “I wanted to know how Hillsburgh stacked up.”
Finnie said others share Maieron’s concerns, and, “There are some serious mistakes … There are major mistakes in this report and I personally don’t want it received for information.”
Green said the council will make the determination “in due course.”
Council then accepted the solid waste services committee report. It later rejected in a separate vote to have the county Green Legacy program moved to the Hillsburgh site, which Maieron had proposed, along with rejecting an immediate new transfer station at Hillsburgh.
