Heather Wright/The Independent ©

Chatham-Kent staff and politicians were meeting with representatives from York1 Environmental in 2019, years before the Mississauga company shocked Dresden residents with plans to expand the former Dresden Dump.

And, according to documents obtained by The Independent under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, officials knew in June 2022 the company planned to “expand and fully develop the full 83-acre site.”

In January, York1 filed an application to the Environmental Registry of Ontario outlining its plans to build a new landfill on the Irish School Road site and create a construction and soil waste recycling centre.
It plans to bring up to 6,000 tonnes of construction waste and soil in up to 700 trucks a day to the site.

The move has faced fierce opposition from Dresden residents.

When the plan came to light, Chatham-Kent’s mayor said they had no idea about what was to come.
“There has been zero communication and they’re trying to shove this down our throat,” Mayor Darrin Canniff said during the Feb. 26, 2024 meeting. “They’re not treating us as partners at all in this; zero, zip, zilch,” he said angrily adding the people of Dresden had been treated with “disrespect.”

See Canniff’s comments here:

During the second public open house in Dresden in March, George Kirchmair, disputed that saying York1 had talked with the mayor in December 2021.

READ MORE HERE: https://petrolialambtonindependent.ca/2024/03/02/york1-says-ck-knew-dresden-dump-plans-two-years-ago/

But emails from municipal employees show Mayor Canniff, then CAO Don Shropshire, then Councillor Joe Faas and Councillor Jamie McGrail were among the people invited by a consultant to discuss “the Dresden Landfill Proposal” Oct. 8, 2019. The name of the consultant has been redacted from the original email.

There was no record of what was discussed at the time.

And it appears from the chains of emails in the over 1,000 pages of documents released to The Independent about the York1 proposal at the Dresden dump, the issue fell off the table during the pandemic. The inquiries about moving the project forward begin again as the pandemic eases.

In April 2022, Ryan Jaques, Director, Planning Services, received a letter from Armstrong Planning which outlines York1’s plans for the property and the zoning status as legal non-conforming – an indication York1 had plans to use the abandoned landfill portion of the 83-acre site.

Jaques suggested that about two acres was actually a landfill and could be considered a legal non-conforming use to the current zoning. The company suggested a third of the property had been used for landfilling.

June 27, 2022, the consultant acting for York1 invites McGrail, Faas and Canniff to meet with George Kirchmair, the vice president spearheading the project at The Chilled Cork for lunch.

The consultant says Kirchmair will present “preliminary plans for the redevelopment and the proposed new services at the former Waste Wood Disposal site located north of the community of Dresden .”
There would also be “preliminary discussions regarding a host community agreement that will benefit primarily the community of Dresden and north Chatham-Kent,” he wrote.

After the meeting at the Chilled Cork, CK’s Economic Development Department is brought into the discussions. Manager Jamie Rainbird writes in an email June 27, 2022 that “Yorks goal is to close the purchase and beginning the long process of seeking MOE and municipal approvals to eventually expand and develop the full 83-acre parcel by conducting EAs public consultation process and having the property rezoned.”

But York1’s plans don’t seem to be going well.

Michael J Smith of Home Atmosphere (It’s not clear if Smith is related to Mark Smith, the owner of Waste Wood Disposal) writes to McGrail and Faas looking for help.

“George (Kirchmair) can’t move forward due to lack of communication (with CK officials). York is prepared to make a substantial investment in this project that really benefits the Dresden area. There has been lot of work and extensive expense to get the site cleaned up for York’s takeover. Can you help facilitate this?”

He asks McGrail and Faas again to intervene in September.

“York Environmental is asking for an extension for the closing date of the Dresden Tile Yard. The extension will cost a lot of money so asking both of you if there is a way we can expedite paper work on the CK end.”

By Dec. 15, 2022 York1 owned the property.

After the sale of the property, York1’s consultant again reached out to municipal politicians – this time McGrail and North Kent Councillor Rhonda Jubenville. They arrange a meeting with Kirchmair June 20, 2023 at the Churrascria in Chatham, chosen because “it is quiet and has private tables for any discussions you may have.”

Stuart McFadden, the director of Economic Development, is invited to come along however is unable to. He has a conversation with Kirchmair by phone and reports back to the group via email.

“The discussion was very open and I appreciated his commitment to openness and transparency throughout the process going forward,” McFadden writes. “

“I’ve committed to helping York with the community consultation activities that will required in the future. George also mentioned potential future spin-off business opportunities which we will obviously support as well.”

In an interview with The Independent Tuesday, Councillor Jamie McGrail insists she did not know the scope of York1’s plans when the talks began in 2019.

“I didn’t know what it was and it was very vague, so there was nothing asked, because I didn’t understand the scope. There was no business plan; nothing was given,” she said.

And McGrail defends bringing in the economic development department on the file saying “York1 gave us a line of like, ‘we’re gonna open up and have new employment.’ So, of course, they’re going say that, until again, I’m gonna say this, and be very clear when I say this, is that there was no business plan. We did not know the scope of anything, and as soon as we did, that’s when we were like no.”

And the councillor dismisses the idea that she was advocating for York1 in the beginning.

“So from 2019, and those initial meetings like and very, very initial, that there was nothing like given to the next time we talked, you can tell there is a big gap. So it’s not like we were working with them. We weren’t,” McGrail said.

“So I there wasn’t anything there… like landfill wasn’t even part of it. It was more like a recycling (facility) and that’s where the jobs came from. Well, by then, we said, ‘Where’s the plan?’ And there was never a plan given… I can’t give you a scope of actually what they really wanted, because it wasn’t provided to me until they did their ministry submissions.”

As for exploring the redevelopment of the site at all, McGrail says “Don’t just concentrate on the landfill. Remember, there was a recycling piece to that” adding that’s where the estimated 15 to 20 jobs would come into play.

Councillor Rhonda Jubenville, who was elected in 2022, said she was ‘thrust’ into the discussion two weeks into the job and “was under the impression it (the dump) was going to continue on in some way of what it was already doing…it was pretty small scaled. I didn’t find out about the gravity of how big it was going to be until much later.”

But those comments from the mayor, that “there has been zero communication,” didn’t sit well with Jubenville.

“I was upset because we did know about it. We just didn’t know – or I should say – I didn’t know how big this was going to be. And I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt to my colleagues and mayor that they didn’t know how big this was going to be. But to say they didn’t know about it is misleading, because yes, we did know about it. We did know about it.”

Calls and emails to Canniff for an interview were not returned.

The project is now subject to an in depth Environmental Assessment. That process can take years for companies to obtain any approval from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.