North Oshawa residents looking to save their water
Potential fill site sees protestors outside of city hall
By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express
Chants of “Save our water” were ringing out at city hall as protestors voiced their objections to a potential fill site in north Oshawa.
The protestors, joined by Councillor John Neal, were at city hall recently demonstrating their support for a moratorium on an application for a large fill site at 3440 Wilson Rd. N. in Oshawa.
“We want a moratorium, an interim control bylaw to slow this process down,” says Neal. “It’s more than a simple site alteration bylaw.”
For Neal, it’s about potential health and water issues caused by the fill site, as he notes the city is in need of a new site-alteration bylaw.
“Our site alteration bylaw is very, very weak. It doesn’t take into account the health, and the water of the citizens,” he says.
Ultimately, he believes things have to change, as this new fill site will be on sensitive land and will affect the Oak Ridges Moraine.
Currently, there is a report based on Neal’s motion for a moratorium coming back from city staff, which will be voted on by council very soon.
Neal believes the city doesn’t currently have the capability or the information needed to make a decision on the site in question.
With a moratorium, Neal says this will allow the city to be able to perform a more comprehensive environmental evaluation on the site, as well as the application from Hard-Co. Sand and Gravel.
Allen Frank, a resident in the area of the potential fill site, tells The Oshawa Express he hopes to stop the city from dumping contaminated soil on the land near his home.
“There has been a dumping site in the past, and it proved to be very contaminating, unhealthy, and they’re dumping it on the Oak Ridges Moraine,” says Frank.
As a resident of the area, when he found out the fill site was even on the table, he says he went to the city many times and received no response.
“They didn’t want to see us,” he says.
“When you’re dumping toxic soil in an area, the immediate area will suffer health wise one way or another,” says Frank.
Campbell Grierson, another resident in the area, says it is the city’s residents who will end up having to pay for any potential clean up.
“We’re talking millions and millions of dollars in taxes. Everyone in Oshawa is going to have to pay to clean up messes coming from Scarborough and wherever they come from to just dump here,” he says.
Ultimately, he is concerned that the people of Oshawa will have to “foot that bill.”
In an email from Neal after the protest, he says Mayor Dan Carter, who had been observing the rally from city hall, has asked concerned residents to reach out to him via mail or email at dcarter@oshawa.ca.