Chatham-Kent's Ward 4 councillors did their best to "dispel any rumours or misinformation" that came from York1's public information meeting last Friday.
During Monday night's council meeting, Rhonda Jubenville asked CK's General Manager of Community Development, Bruce McAllister, a list of questions she and co-councillor Jamie McGrail had come up with to clear the air.
"Hopefully Bruce can provide clarity," Jubenville said regarding any questions the public may have.
"Has the municipality ever received any official plans from York1 through any talks they may have had or any other methods?" She asked.
"I certainly will acknowledge that there were a couple of high-level discussions with York1 in 2022," McAllister answered.
"I think it's important to note that the municipality regularly takes calls and inquiries from potential investors. The first step is generally to reach an official meeting to gather further information and, frankly, to listen. From there, later in 2022, the municipality did ask York1 to provide further details on a couple of occasions regarding the overall scope and proposed uses they had for the property, an outline of the provincial approval requirements from them, and then we also asked for an outline on the proposed public consultation process. I can say that none of these additional details were ever received in advance of receiving the initial ministry posting notice that was received a couple weeks ago, in February this year," he continued. "I do want to highlight, to date there's not been what we refer to as a formal planning pre-consultation meeting with staff. And no planning application has been filed yet with the municipality."
McAllister added that based on direction from the last council meeting, administration is working on submissions to the province to fight against the proposed recycling/landfill facility just outside of Dresden.
"We will issue an initial media release to the public, probably next Friday afternoon, once the first submission ahs been completed and submitted to the Ministry. And a report to council will follow in April, after the second submission is completed, summarizing all of our submissions to the ministry," he said, ensuring the steps that Chatham-Kent is taking are as transparent as possible.
Jubenville continued her questions, asking, "Has York1 ever approached the municipality to present in either closed or open session with council?"
"No," Macallister replied. "York1 has never been before council."
"So, York1 has never presented to council," Jubenville clarified. "They've never asked and they've never done so, correct?"
"Yeah," McAllister confirmed.
"What requests, if any, has the municipality asked of York1?" the councillor asked.
"As I noted earlier, we requested additional information just regarding 'what is the overall scope?'" McAllister said. "We wanted clarity on what was the actual project scope, in terms of landfill, recycling, whatever they're proposing and the uses on the property. We did ask for an outline of expectations of the province, the provincial approval requirements, that we're waiting on as well. And we did ask them for a formal outline on their proposed public consultation process... which I assume would have been proposing a presentation before council."
"How will the people of Dresden get the opportunity to speak to council or receive information from the municipality, rather than in this forum?" Jubenville asked, referring to the scheduled council meeting. "Are there any other forums that we can do?"
"I think the next step, as I noted, we'll make the public aware of when we formally have our ministry submissions. And I think the next step for addressing council will be a report to council," McAllister replied.
When Jubenville asked if there was the potential for a public meeting, McAllister agreed to it, but stipulated it would be better timed after council received a report from administration.
Jubenville then asked for McAllister to specify the exact zoning of the Irish School Road property.
"It is currently zoned, what's referred to as extractive industrial - 365, or M2-365. The permitted uses of that zone include agricultural uses with no structures, asphalt and concrete batching, buildings and structures related to the above permitted uses, open storage, pits and quarries, processing of extracted materials from the site, storage of asphalt and concrete for crushing," McAllister said, adding that those very specific uses are what that property has been zoned for since before amalgamation.
After that exchange, McGrail thanked CK's Mayor for the letter he wrote to the province about the area's concerns about the proposed York1 facility.
She then emphasized again how important it is for everyone concerned about the proposal to comment on York1's two submissions to the province.
The first concerns increasing the size and amount of waste the potential facility can hold. That proposal is open to the public for comment until March 16.
The second is regarding the types of waste that would be allowed on the land. The public can comment on it until April 11.
Following the discussion, it was determined that the administration would launch a Let's Talk page, so residents can easily find all of the available information about the project.