Two recent complaints about fill dumping here are prompting town council to put in place a “stronger” fill bylaw as soon as possible.
After discussions and delegations that have spanned years, a draft bylaw is finally in front of council for review. Chief building official Carol House presented the draft on March 22, asking for input.
House explained she looked through four different bylaws from Halton Hills, Puslinch, Scugog and Erin’s current bylaw to “come up with the best bylaw that would work at this time.”
House added, “We are in a situation now with the changing of the seasons and [it’s] already reared its ugly head. We’ve already had a couple of issues this week and last week. So this is where it stands right now.”
Councillor Matt Sammut asked if council could create a site alteration bylaw committee.
CAO Kathryn Ironmonger and Mayor Allan Alls are hoping council will consider passing the bylaw at the next council meeting.
“I would like to see us have something solider than what we have and do the necessary changes as we move forward,” said Ironmonger.
Sammut asked why the town was rushing into it.
“I haven’t heard why our bylaw is so inadequate we have to push something through quickly,” he said.
Alls responded, “I know that we have a bylaw in place and I hear what you’re saying councillor Sammut, but I know this is a stronger one.”
Ironmonger wanted to keep the bylaw on the agenda for the next council meeting.
“If I could get council to get your head around this as well, I would like to see a draft bylaw coming back at the next council meeting because the fact is that if council does decide you want to incorporate a committee, it will affect this bylaw,” she said.
“When we’re happy with the bylaw, it has to go to the lawyer for vetting. It may not be until the second meeting in April that we can actually approve it.”
The draft bylaw outlines the process for an application, including the requirement of a control plan and an environmental consultant report. The application would also be subject to a base fee of $250 plus $50 per hectare and securities.
House said the low application fee was to “encourage people to apply for the permits; now the permit fees may be relatively low, but the securities are not.”
Under the draft bylaw, any contravention could lead to a $10,000 to $25,000 fine for a person or $50,000 to $100,000 for a corporation as well as the expense to rehabilitate the land.
The draft bylaw would not apply to municipal activities, planning act requirements, pits or quarries, tile drain construction, garden beds, landscaping works or normal agricultural practices.
Any application greater than 1,000 cubic metres would have to go through council. However Alls said he would like to see a lower number.
“That’s a lot of trucks.”
Each councillor offered several comments to help House revise the bylaw. Council also suggested House meet with the Ontario Soil Task Force (OSTF) and the Citizens Against Fill Dumping (CAFD). Representatives of each group were delegations earlier during the meeting.
Carmella Marshall of the OSTF explained to council the group has developed a model fill bylaw that has been peer reviewed and commented on by many interest groups, scientists, government ministries and lawyers.
Marshall said she had a brief look at the Erin bylaw that was presented later that evening and offered multiple suggestions.
Anna Spiteri, a member of the local CAFD group, asked council to create a committee to discuss the bylaw. She was concerned the bylaw was too similar to the one in Puslinch Township, which is “known as the gravel capital of the province.”
Spiteri, who was also part of council’s ad hoc committee for fill that helped plan for a municipal fill bylaw, added the group was not involved in the draft process.
“I’m perturbed, however, that our group was not given the courtesy to comment or participate in the process,” said Spiteri.
“Why are we going for a totally, completely different bylaw when … the old ad hoc committee spent a year … coming up with recommendations to improve the existing bylaw.”
Councillor John Brennan said he was frustrated with the committee process.
“What frustrated me so much the last time we did this, we got a committee of people to come and advise us of how to revise the bylaw and quite frankly, it didn’t go anywhere,” he said.
Alls said the work the committee has done was useful.
“I appreciate the work you’ve done, don’t get me wrong … but your committee is an advisory committee, this is a council that will have to live with whatever we do, this is the decision that has to be rested here,” he said.
Council directed House to discuss the bylaw with the concerned groups then bring it back to council for a decision.
