Heather Wright/The Independent

Waste Management may believe there isn’t a need to renegotiate the agreement it has with Warwick Township should its expansion project be approved, but the mayor begs to differ.

WM held an open house Nov. 27 to give the community information about the project which will see the Twin Creeks Landfill’s life extended by 12 years.

The company wants to increase the size of the berms to nearly 285 feet and pile more waste on top of the cells that are already there.

Many of the placards around the East Lambton Community Complex suggested odour, noise and traffic levels are unlikely to change if the expansion is approved.

“That can be their opinion, that’s fine,” said Mayor Todd Case. He was one of the people who made the rounds, reading the information and talking with the consultants working on the Environmental Assessment for the project.

Case says the township has its own experts reviewing the plans who will weigh in on the affects of the expansion.

Part of the posted information included a few lines about the host agreement, which provides cash to the municipality. The placard said Warwick would receive about $49 million more if the landfill life is extended by 12 years and there was no need to change the current agreement.

“That’s not the case by any means,” says Case.

“Right now we’re addressing the environmental aspects of the landfill,” he said “but there will be a financial conversation definitely in the future.”

“If that existing landfill expansion is approved, it will impact the community, and that’s why we have our team that will measure each one of those impacts, and we will have our own comments on that stuff as we move forward.”

It could be several years before the province decides if the project will move ahead.