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Clark blasts Taro dump redesign as ‘mountain of crap’
(Stoney Creek News, Richard Leitner, June 6 2013)

Stoney Creek Councillor Brad Clark is warning neighbours of the Taro dump that they will be staring out at “a mountain of crap” if owner Newalta Corp. gets permission to raise its final grade by nearly a third at its highest point.

Clark lashed out at Newalta officials in several testy exchanges on Monday after they unveiled the proposal at a meeting of the community liaison committee for the site, rejecting their suggestions people won’t notice the difference.

The plan, which requires approval from the Ministry of the Environment, would see all dump elevations rise by 4.5 metres, raising the final grade from ground level to between 11.55 and 18.45 metres from the existing range of 7.05 to 13.95 metres.

In return for being allowed to pile waste higher, the company is proposing to limit the site to its existing footprint. This would scrap the original plan to expand it toward Green Mountain Road and create a new entranceway off Mud Street.

Clark said the proposal is all about saving Newalta money, calling it a “complete betrayal” of promises made to the community when the dump was approved in 1996 over the objections of 10,000 people who wrote letters of opposition.

He criticized Newalta for not raising the height issue with the city as it planned the new entrance and surrounding housing developments like Penny Lane Estates.

“I’m absolutely stunned that this suggestion is even being made,” Clark said.

“To just dump it like this is so irritating, especially given all the money that was invested in all these houses around here,” he said. “You think they want to see a mountain of crap?”

But Newalta communications director Greg Jones said the proposal will only result in a “slight increase” to the dump’s height while eliminating the nuisance from constructing five new waste cells on 18 hectares of land by Green Mountain Road.

The new design will also increase the distance between the dump and homes planned to the north by 275 metres, keep the Upper Centennial Parkway entrance and reduce leachate volumes going into the sewer because of a smaller waste footprint, he said.

“We’re not going to deny that this project will result in cost savings, but we believe there are a number of benefits,” Jones said, estimating the dump will remain open for another 10 years.

“Frankly, we don’t think that four and a half metres are going to make any difference to anybody,” he said. “We’d be able to keep the access where it is. We believe that not having an entrance across from Penny Lane Estates would be beneficial to those people.”

But Randy Valchuk, a community member of the committee, said the increase in height “does sound rather high” and could affect the view from neighbouring homes.

“You’re talking about pretty well a two-storey house (higher),” he said. “Some of those people, if it was cut down to a reasonable thing, they could probably see over the city. You might actually block their view.”

It could always be worse.