Chatham-Kent politician adds it seems the Dresden project is not an “if” but a “when”

Heather Wright/The Independent

Chatham-Kent politicians say the province has committed to keeping the community in the loop on the York1 Environmental project in Dresden.

But one councillor says the Minister of the Environment made it clear “it’s not if this is going to happen, it is when.”

Chatham-Kent Councillor Jamie McGrail, Alysson Storey and Amy Finn met with Environment Minister Todd McCarthy during the Rural Ontario Municipal Association meeting held Jan 19-20. The municipality and community of Dresden are trying to stop the rejuvination of the former Dresden dump to a construction and soil recycling site with a 20 acre landfill. Up to 6,000 tonnes of waste could come to the area every day.

York1 purchased the Irish School Road site in 2022. In February 2024, plans for a massive construction and soil waste recycling facility and new landfill were posted on the Environmental Registry of Ontario.

The neighbours and governments in Chatham-Kent and Lambton are fighting the project which could bring up to 6,000 tonnes of waste to the area a day.

But the provincial government cleared the way for York1 to proceed without an Environmental Assessment of the process.  

In a social media post, McGrail, who represents Dresden, told the ministry the community is in the dark as to what is going on.

“Communication regarding next steps, timelines, and expectations has been almost non-existent from York 1 and the province,” she told the minister in a prepared statement. “This lack of clarity is creating growing anxiety, stress, and uncertainty for residents in Dresden and the surrounding communities — not to mention neighboring municipalities who will also be affected.

“I truly believe there are better answers to the landfill shortage — answers that come from municipalities and the province working together, collaboratively and transparently. A big part of that partnership must include open communication, which has been missing in this process.”

“My impression was that he was very interested to hear from us,” Storey tells The Independent. But it appears the province is not about to be swayed.

“He was very respectful. He had a lot of good questions. I think the most eye opening for me was that … I got the impression that from the ministerial perspective, this was more of a when this happens versus an if this happens.

“That was certainly not something that we wanted to hear in that context, because we are still exploring all of our avenues on what the future is of that site and certainly the community, our constituents have made it very clear that they do not want this proposal in Dresden, because it’s essentially in Dresden.”

McGrail and Storey say the province has agreed to better communications on the project.

“We managed to secure from the minister a specific senior level staff person in his office that will be our primary contact going forward. He committed to that wholeheartedly in the meeting, because we have not had that that I think that’s one of the biggest issues we’ve had from day one that both (CK’s Deputy CAO) Dave Taylor and Jamie McGrail made very clear, is that we are often hearing about these plans second or third hand, and that’s not acceptable, whatever the plans might be, we need to be part of those conversations.”