Betty Tarr is putting heat on the town’s proposed burning bylaw.
A move to pass a burning bylaw drew considerable flak from residents, not so much for what was in the bylaw, but for what was not.
Mayor David Anderson said Minto Fire Chief Chris Harrow had worked on the bylaw for quite some time. “It’s gone back and forth, and we’ve talked about it many times.”
Tarr stated, “This is a bylaw for open fires, which deals mainly with fire prevention and safety – both of which are important.”
However, she is concerned “the bylaw does nothing to alleviate the problem we have been facing for almost 10 years, the excessive smoke in our buildings and calf hutch area, and the obnoxious odour in the air from fires burned in the incinerator on the property of Gray’s Auction.”
Tarr contends the fire chief said the “nuisance to neighbours” phrase, as well as the idea of garbage sorting included in the old bylaw could not be enforced and he was changing the bylaw.
Tarr questioned how the bylaw would be enforced now.
She suggested, “Perhaps the words “obnoxious odour” and “excessive smoke” should be included to afford some protection to the people and give the enforcer to use their discretion to put out a fire in situations outside of just fire safety hazards.”
Tarr said the current draft protects others from fires which may become hazardous, “but does nothing to protect against, in our situation, the day-to-day issues of smoke and smell.”
She said the ‘nuisance’ part of the fire should be the burner’s responsibility. “The current draft places no such burden on the burner.”
While Tarr agreed the bylaw is for the town as a whole, that one site is causing a problem “we have endured for nearly 10 years. Could there be a way to clean up this site first, without increasing regulations for other sites, which are being properly operated.”
Tarr’s solution would be to move Gray’s incinerator to another location on the property.
She said the fire chief says there is too great a volume of recyclable goods to ask for it all to be recycled. Therefore the company is allowed to burn.
“Has any other business in Harriston been given the same option?” she asked..
Tarr added one argument has been the cost of moving such a large volume of material.
“We suggest that the cardboard could be loaded onto his dump trailer and taken one-quarter mile to the county landfill site, and properly disposed of, or taken to the gravel ridge at the back of the farm and burned.”
She added Minto residents are encouraged to use the county’s blue box program.
“Are there two sets of rules here? One for the ‘ordinary’ guy’ and one for the ‘special’ guy?”
While it is only a smart business plan to be able to get rid of business waste, she said, “Just ask any farmer what environmental plans they must follow to get rid of their waste – manure – a waste product of their business.
She said businesses are responsible for the “proper disposal” of waste created.
At the very least, Tarr would like to see incinerator regulations within the bylaw … regulations that did exist in the old Minto township bylaw.
She contended her buildings are 1,000 feet downwind, and those buildings cannot be moved … but an incinerator could. She also wanted to see more direct penalties for bylaw infringements as well as strict guidelines for incinerator operations – including the condition of the unit.
“The excessive smoke and obnoxious odours must be controlled.”
Tarr asked that while recycling should take precedence, burning should take place in an area to cause the least problem to neighbours. “The concerns need to be addressed by council before this bylaw is given approval.”
Anderson said the bylaw restricted burning when windspeeds are about 20km/hour, however Tarr said the issue is more when the wind is slow and the smoke just sits there.
Anderson said under the nuisance part of the bylaw, it can be enforced either by the fire chief or the bylaw officer.
Tarr said they’ve been fighting the issue for the past 10 years. “I was hoping to leave here tonight with the idea that after living in Minto for the past 45 years, that finally, my word means something.”
Anderson said, “We are listening to your concerns.”
Deputy-mayor Judy Dirksen said “I think we need to look at some options.”
She asked if the bylaw can go back to the fire committee.
“We can’t make this amount of change tonight.”
Dirksen said with the information presented by Tarr, “I’m not comfortable passing the bylaw as it is tonight.”
Anderson said the municipality will have to look at Tarr’s requests “to see if any of them are achievable.”
Councillor Rick Hembly (also a Minto firefighter) said the issue faced by Fire Chief Harrow was an attempt to appease as many as possible.
“Obviously you are unhappy with it, and have not gotten results in the past 10 years.”
He asked if she saw any improvements within the new bylaw.
“As far as safety – yes. But it does nothing to solve my problem.”
Whether it is included in the burning bylaw or not, Tarr wants some way of having the issue resolved.
Councillors were sympathetic, and agreed that another look is needed.
Dirksen wondered if this specific issue is more of a waste management or an environmental issue.
The matter is going back to the committee level for further investigation.
