With questions lingering regarding an application for a solid and hazardous waste management facility at the Coniston Industrial Park, a community meeting has been scheduled for Jan. 15.
At the meeting, GFL Environmental Inc. will explain their application, hosting an open house session, a formal presentation and a question-and-answer period.
Although hosted by the company behind the application, Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh helped organize the meeting after a public hearing last month which prompted city council members to defer making a final decision until Jan. 26.
The initial round of public consultation was limited to a statutory notice of application in a newspaper and a letter to landowners and tenants within 244 metres of the property.
The meeting left some questions unanswered, and area resident Martin Trudel said not all residents were aware of the application, and few could make it out to Azilda at mid-day on a weekday for the public hearing.
The city’s 244-metre limitation on public notice isn’t adequate to address the application, Trudel said, noting that everyone in Coniston would be affected by the increase in heavy vehicle traffic.
“Since talking to not just them, but people in the city as well, I have a better understanding of what they’re doing up there, but they need to explain that to the residents as well,” McIntosh said of the applicants. “It was complicated, but at the hearing we weren’t getting the answers.”
The topic also came up during a Coniston Community Action Network meeting, whose chair, Eddie Astgen, said he’s leading the volunteer group in urging residents to attend the Jan. 15 meeting.
Although “hazardous waste” stuck out as a point of concern in the application, Astgen said, “from my understanding it’s a transfer station for household recycling and things like that.”
This point was also clarified during last month’s public hearing, in that the site would serve as a transfer station for household recyclables, but the application also had provisions for “wood waste, metal waste and aggregate,” which would be stored outside in covered roll-off bins.
“Hazardous soil for transfer only,” and “liquid industrial waste” would also be transferred into eight above-ground “vertical storage tanks” with a combined maximum capacity of 480,000 litres.
Despite provisions for hazardous waste, the report clarifies that “radioactive, pathological/biomedical, explosives and PCBs wastes will not be accepted at the site.”
Still, the proponent, represented by planner Debbie Vandenakker, didn’t fully explain where this hazardous soil would originate or consist of.
“People thought it was a dump, and it’s not, it’s a transfer station,” McIntosh told Sudbury.com, describing the waste transfer site as similar in scope to The Recycling Centre, at 1825 Frobisher St.
Another concern has to do with the 60 inbound trucks and 10 larger outgoing trucks the site will attract per day, amounting to 140 trips through the heart of Coniston to reach the industrial park.
The current plan includes a Highway 17 access onto Second Avenue, proceeding south to Government Road, west to Edward Avenue South and southward into the industrial park.
“Even now, it’s horrible,” Astgen said of heavy traffic through Coniston, noting that it’s an ongoing concern of the Community Action Network. They tried to get a flashing pedestrian crossover at Second Avenue and Concession Street in the past, but city staff told them they were below the threshold to have one. Now, the community organization is pushing for the creation of an industrial use road to shift heavy traffic from what would otherwise be local-use roads.
Astgen is also concerned about the capacity to alert residents when an emergent situation arises, such as the November 2021 storage container explosion at the Coniston Industrial park which sent a chlorine odour through the town.
He has developed an app for neighbourhood watch and community alerts which he’s presenting to Greater Sudbury Police Service soon, and which Sudbury.com will follow up on with future coverage.
Another point which came up during last month’s planning committee meeting is that some GFL Environmental Inc. operations are already taking place in unpermitted buildings, with the applications to the city “part of a larger exercise by Coniston Industrial Park to bring all operations into compliance with the City’s Official Plan and Zoning By-law, and to obtain required building permits.”
During last month’s public hearing, Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin questioned what kind of oversight a company that didn’t think to apply for building permits would have when handling hazardous waste, noting “I just have concerns.”
Meanwhile, Astgen said he hopes the Jan. 15 meeting will answer everyone’s questions.
“I’m hoping that GFL doesn’t just hide in corporate speak,” he said. “They need to speak to these people in a way that says their concerns are valid.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.