HAWK RIDGE HOMES DELEGATIONS AT LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL MEETING

There were three excellent Delegations at last night's Woolwich Council meeting regarding the proposed Hawk Ridge Homes on Union St. in Elmira. A lack of modesty is including my Delegation being excellent along with Ken Driedger's and Ron Koniuch. Ron was representing Sulco Chemicals (Canada Colours), Ken was representing APT-Chemtura and yours truly was representing the Elmira Environmental Hazards Team. Mayor Todd Cowan in his capacity as CPAC Interim Chair I believe did briefly mention informal non support for the proposed subdivision next to the former Varnicolor Chemical, Sulco, Nutrite (Yara) and Chemtura (Uniroyal).

Ken Driedger clarified Chemtura's ongoing tribulations in the U.S. and how they are paying millions of dollars in penalties for numerous contaminated sites there. His concern is that they will be focusing time, effort and money on U.S. environmental problems rather than those here in Elmira. He also emphasized that their local Worst Case Scenario is a legitimate threat and that residential construction next to their plant is totally inappropriate and wrong.

Ron Koniuch the general manager at Sulco described their long term efforts, including their Citizens Advisory Panel (CAP), to make their plant safe for people and the environment. This CAP includes one member of the Elmira Environmental Hazards Team, namely Rich Clausi. Ron felt that a new residential subdivision beside their facility was a huge, dangerous step backwards in their ongoing attempts to be good corporate citizens.

Yours truly asked Woolwich Council not to give approval to Hawk Ridge based upon approvals from either the Region of Waterloo or the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. I went into some detail about the history of their mismanagement and in the case of the M.O.E. deliberate misleading and inaccurate statements about Varnicolor Chemical twenty years ago. The Varnicolor site is located right across First St. from the Hawk Ridge proposal. I also advised that both these bodies had given the new owner (Phillip Environmental) an idemnity from further environmental liability. The current owners however are on the hook for both new deep monitoring wells AND the removal of 200 tonnes of contaminated soil. Clearly the pump & treat (hydraulic containment) system installed in 1994 and designed to remediate within ten years has failed. Furthermore I pointed out two other failures by the Region and the City of Kitchener to protect homebuyers. This was the Ralgreen Cres. subdivision and the townhouses which were abandoned for years beside the Ottawa St. Landfill in Kitchener. Council did vote to go to the impending Ontario Municipal Board hearing, having accepted Staff's recommendation not to approve either the zone change or the plan of subdivision. Kudos to Council for this morally correct decision.