Heather Wright/The Independent

The legal fight to stop York1 Environmental from using a former Dresden landfill as a large construction and soil recycling centre and landfill heads to court in March 17.

The company filed a motion in court saying it shouldn’t need any municipal approvals to move ahead with the project without further municipal zoning approvals. 

It has been two years since the company talked publicly about its plans to bring up to 700 trucks a day to the Irish School Road Site near the Lambton border and build a 20-acre landfill on the site. While there was a dump on the site, it covered only a fraction of the 80-acre property.

Chatham-Kent officials cite a letter from the Ministry of the Environment which says the municipality does have authority over zoning issues. “The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has consistently told York1 that land use planning approvals are needed, including zoning and official plan changes. In the past two weeks, legal counsel for Chatham-Kent wrote to York1 to reiterate their need for these land use approvals,” said Eric Labadie, manager of communications for the municipality when the legal action was filed in November. Letters released in a Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy request show Chatham-Kent and York1 were already talking about legal action in 2022.

Officials say the March 17 court appearance will not be the hearing on the merits of York1’s case. Instead, lawyers are likely to set up a clear process for the hearing and a timeline. The court is also likely to set deadlines for disclosure of evidence and when cross examinations of that evidence can be held.

Meantime, York1 has already worked with the Ministry of the Environment to merge four different Certificates of Approval on the property into one and has begun accepting waste at the site five days a week.

Under the current rules, the company can only take in 75 tonnes a day.