Heather Wright/The Independent

York1 Environmental’s new communications strategist – a former director of communications for Premier Doug Ford – says no residential garbage will be coming to Dresden.

Laryssa Waler, who is now York1’s spokesperson, owns Henley Strategies and according to the Canada Strong and Free Network (formerly the Manning Centre) was the executive director of communications for the Premier of Ontario from 2018 to 2020.

Waler contacted The Independent Friday to clarify information in a previous article, as the government held hearings of Bill 5. It proposes removing the requirement for York1 Environmental to complete a full Environmental Assessment on the Irish School Road property its planning a construction and soil recycling facility.

After months of avoiding media questions, Waler said York1 was now “happy to respond” to questions about the project.

A request to interview George Kirchmair, the vice president of York1 in charge of the project, was turned down with Waler saying questions would only be answered via email.

Waler did not directly answer if York1 would be able to pick up where it left off with the Environmental Compilance Approval process, if Bill 5 passes eliminating the need for a full Environmental Assessment. Nor did she answer whether approvals already given under the ECA process, like the storm water management plan, would stand.

Instead, she reiterated the Dresden dump was an exisiting landfill and York1’s project would follow the rules set out for it in the 1990s, including a 20-acre landfill.

Waler didn’t know how long the ECA process would take. “Timing around approvals are up to the Government of Ontario,” she said via email.

Waler said York1 did not lobby the Ford government to remove the EA requirement. That’s what one Liberal MPP is alleging in a complaint to the province’s Integrity Commissioner. “Lobbying activity and political fundraising activity are highly regulated and publicly reportable activities in Ontario,” she said.

The company has yet to talk to the municipality about a host agreement, Waler said, but added when officials met with Chatham-Kent’s mayor in 2022 and 2023, “York1 outlined our plans for the Dresden Landfill and indicated our interest in entering into an equitable host-community agreement with the municipality. The tone in the meetings was supportive and collaborative and it was through these meetings that York1 agreed to limit the waste accepted at the facility to non-hazardous construction waste as per the municipalities’ request to York1.”

The municipality now publicly opposes the project.

Waler cleared up some of the murkier aspects of the projects, including the purchase of the land recently by Whitestone Fields LP. “Whitestone is the landlord, York1 is the tenant. No changes to the ECAs, York1 continues to control the land, and own the ECAs,” she wrote in an email.

And she said the company hasn’t met with the landowners around the site since last year nor has it offered any compensation packages. The company would be open to talking about paying for a water line along Irish School Road as well as further public meetings on the projects, Waler added.

Whitestone Field now owns 200 acres north of Dresden including land along Croton Line.
Waler said the company is still committed to offering some of that land as an industrial park for Chatham-Kent as discussed in 2024.

As for the traffic coming to the site – as many as 700 trucks per day according to the original proposal – Waler says “York1 has commissioned a traffic study.  Trucking routes will come from Windsor, Chatham, Sarnia and London. 
“Trucking routes will not go through downtown Dresden.”