Last week, following a review by the Municipal Planning Commission (MPC), made up of the MD of Bonnyville council and Reeve Ed Rondeau, the MPC approved a development application by the MD for a “temporary bin site” located near Chatwin Lake.
The approval allows for an existing garbage bin site, which is located approximately 20 metres from the property of MD residents Mike and Agnes Wasylyk, to continue functioning as a garbage disposal and pick-up site for area residents.
The Wasylyk's, who have been in dispute with the MD regarding the permanency and location of the site, as well as drainage and leeching issues from the site and its contents, for more than a decade, plan to appeal the MPC's decision.
The dispute came to a head last May, when a provincial court ruled in favour of the Wasylyks, deeming the site a “storage site” and according to the MD's own bylaw, would then require an approved development permit to exist.
The MD is still appealing the court's decision, despite applying for and approving the development permit application at the MPC meeting on Jan. 8.
MD CAO Ryan Poole said the application for a “temporary bin site” was necessary, in order to keep serving the residents who use the garbage disposal site during the appeal process.
From the beginning of the dispute, Mike Wasylyk insisted the MD assured him the site would be temporary. But once the MD built fences, paved the area and declared the site permanent, Wasylyk said he had no choice but to take the matter to court.
“I don't think (the MD) ever had any intention of moving the site or accommodating our concerns,” said Wasylyk. “They're working for themselves, not for MD residents. I've been told by them I'm just one of 200 (residents in the area) and I don't matter. But we do matter and we're not just going to give up, while the MD does what it wants.”
When asked why the MD applied for a “temporary bin site”, Poole said the word temporary is actually in reference to the garbage on the site and not the site itself.
He said, because garbage is dropped off by residents and then picked up by the MD to be disposed of at a landfill, the garbage is only temporarily on the site.
Poole also pointed out that a temporary site would not require a setback distance from personal property or provincial parkland, which the garbage site is adjacent to on each side.
However, Wasylyk believes any garbage site should require a setback, pointing out that in documents he received through the Freedom of Information Act, provincial officials continually refer to the site as a “waste transfer station”, which would require a 500 metre setback, according to Alberta Environment.
“Even a ‘storage site', which is what the courts decided it is, would need a 300 metre setback,” he added.
“They're (the MD) going against their own bylaws and their own guiding principles,” said Wasylyk.
“We've had real estate agents out here who have said this is a huge devaluation of our property,” he added. “But it's not just the value, this is affecting our health, our water and our horses.”
Wasylyk made a presentation, which included photos of the allegations to the MPC at the meeting on Jan. 8, noting the issues he and his wife have with the garbage site, which include the leaking and leeching of chemicals and refined hydrocarbons from the site onto their property and eventually into Chatwin Lake. He said solid waste, including deer carcasses have been thrown into the bins, despite rules against such dumping.
He also pointed out at the meeting another development application to the MD in April was denied because of concerns with runoff contamination and land devaluation, as well as concerns over solid waste dispersing onto surrounding land.
“There are chemicals, deer carcasses, construction materials, all dumped there and it all gets spread onto our property by the wind and by the birds and coyotes going in a out,” said Wasylyk. “The site is a mess, it's unmonitored and people abuse it constantly.”
Despite presenting more than a dozen issues the Wasylyks have with the site, the MPC provided just three conclusions resulting from the review, allowing the application to be approved.
The conclusions include: prevailing winds are typically from the north west and nuisance factors such as noise and odours should not be an issue to a residence located over 375 metres south west of the bin site, which includes a tree buffer between the site and residence.
As well, the MPC concluded the site has garbage pickup six days a week, excluding Saturday.
And finally, no other landowners came forward in opposition to the site.
Wasylyk responded to those conclusions by pointing out, he and his wife are the only ones living within the vicinity and affected by the site and “that does not give elected officials the right to do what they please.”
