by
guelph – County councillors heard a full report on the site selection process for a transfer station at the south and eastern part of the county on Sept. 27.
Council had heard earlier in the summer that Ospringe is still the preferred site, despite the county purchasing several acres of land surrounding the current Hillsburgh transfer station.
The county hired consultants SNC Lavalin in its search for a site, and Darren Dickson explained the site selection process during a half-hour presentation.
He insisted right away that the top choice “was not done to bring Ospringe back; it was done to assessment the merits” for various areas being considered for a transfer station.
He explained the history of the search, from 2002, and said the search was done “to show residents the site was selected in an open manner.”
He explained the criteria used considered seven sites, including two municipal maintenance yards, an abandoned commercial site, an agricultural site, two gravel pits (one of which is the Ospringe site), and one site that was abandoned because it did not meet distance criteria. The Hillsburgh transfer station was also included.
Dickson said the majority of the sites had “low potential.”
He said that his firm compared the Ospringe site side-by-side with the Hillsburgh transfer station property, the Ospringe site had “high potential.”
Dickson said Ospringe is central for Erin and Guelph-Eramosa Township residents, was an active pit and is already mined, is large enough, and did not need site specific zoning.
He said the Hillsburgh site was three times farther away for some residents, did not have enough capacity, has environmental concerns, and engineering and cost problems.
Dickson said the county asked SNC Lavalin to consider the newly purchased land around the Hillsburgh transfer station, but it is well beyond the distance criteria, encroaches on core greenlands, and is near provincially significant wetlands. He said the purchased property is “a little better” than the transfer station property, is not located on a dump, and there would be no environmental problems with garbage.
But he said, it lacks the single unique advantage that the current transfer station property has – a certificate to accept garbage.
Dickson concluded that the Ospringe area provides the best place for a transfer station. He added that in other site selection tests, the new Hillsburgh property was eliminated by the second run on the criteria for a sight.
“All analysis gave similar results,” he said.
He added that with the method being used to select a site, one of the only ways the process can be overridden is by “strong willed people” who can convince others to ignore the criteria.
He said the Hillsburgh lands, called site 9, and the newly bought lands around it, called site 9A, was “one of the least promising links” for a transfer station. “Ospringe is consistently preferred to 9 and 9A,” he added.
Dickson said the other options could be to have rural collection, restart the site selection process, or use the existing transfer stations at Belwood or Aberfoyle for the residents of Erin and Guelph-Eramosa.
Councillor Rod Finnie said he appreciated the exercise that was used to demonstrate it was not just the intention to bring the Ospringe site back for consideration, but he said some of the criteria used in the study “may not apply today.”
He said the Ospringe site has now been rehabilitated for agriculture, so the Hillsburgh site “may now be better.”
He said he his polling residents in Erin to find out what they want to see.”
He added that finding such sites is ‘controversial, and we won’t find one that pleases everybody.”
Maieron said he looks forward to seeing the results of Finnie’s poll.
He said he has concerns looking for a new site, and in his personal scoring system, Hillsburgh is the preferred site.
Dickson said the land use and the complex wetlands are “a severe detriment” to using site 9A.
And, he said, “If you’re talking Erin residents only, yes, it’s dramatically closer to them.”
Councillor Bob Wilson said the choice of Ospringe in 2002 made as much sense then as it does today.
Warden John Green told him, “You’re right again.”
Councillor Gord Tosh, who represents Guelph-Eramosa, indicated he is tired of Erin wanting all the consideration while his municipality gets nothing.
“Guelph-Eramosa did not bring a huge, leaking, stinking, expensive dump into the county,” when amalgamation occurred and the county took over waste management.
He said his township’s residents have not complained about the high cost of garbage that they are paying for on property taxes, but he wants some consideration for them, too. The Hillsburgh site would force residents in his municipality to drive miles out of their way while Erin residents would have a short trip. Ospringe is the most central site.
Tosh said that Guelph-Eramosa came into the county waste management system with rural pick-up, but that was deemed too costly and was dropped. He wants some service for his ward’s residents.
Council accepted the consultant’s report on the site selection process
