Sep 15, 2008 - 12:21 PM

By Jeff Hayward

UXBRIDGE -- The man who filmed a video 10 years ago showing countless tires dumped on an Uxbridge property does not share the same view today as others speaking out about possible contamination of the site.

James Christie of Newmarket, who said he was once a neighbour of Ed Beach on Concession 2, taped a video of the Beach property a decade ago to ensure thousands of tires there would be ordered to comply with fire regulations, sending copies of the film to the Township and Ministry of Environment, he said.

The tires have since been filled over, but truckloads of fill continue to arrive at the Beach farm. Mr. Beach said recently he is using the fill to build a giant berm, as well as fill in a deep ravine. He noted his family has been battling erosion for years due to runoff from neighbouring properties.

Meanwhile, just recently, the video showing the once-exposed tires surfaced in the possession of local activist Anne Holmes, who is crying foul about the Beach site. She says the property is at the headwaters of the Pefferlaw Brook "and is deemed to be in an aquifer vulnerable area."

Ms. Holmes wants the tires removed and shredded, as she fears contaminants will leach into groundwater.

When asked if there is data proving contamination at the Beach site, she said tires have poisonous compounds and have been deemed hazardous following the 1990 Hagersville fire in Haldimand County, Ont., where millions of exposed tires burned for days.

She wants core-drilling to be performed on the subject property to confirm any toxicity, she said. "There are carcinogens in tires."

But Mr. Christie, who stressed he is in no way affiliated with Ms. Holmes or a group of residents lobbying with her, said "I have reached the conclusion there is little opportunity for chemical leaching into the environment" partially based on the moderately heavy fill over the tires.

"I do not approve of the manner to which my video was presented in order to push concerns I do not agree with," he stated.

But a point they both have a concern about, and the Township is now investigating, is whether the fill now being trucked into the Beach site is permissible under a provincial permit issued to Mr. Beach in 1999. While Mr. Christie said the removal of the tires is not necessary, he wants soil testing done to ensure imported fill contains no contaminants. "Fill contamination is the real issue, not tires," he wrote in an email to the Times-Journal.

Ms. Holmes noted she's not alone in her tire concerns, naming her husband, Bill Holmes, John Gibson and Tara McCullough as lobbying with her. The latter two residents, along with Ms. Holmes and Ed Beach, all ran unsuccessfully in the past municipal election.

The Times-Journal obtained a letter dated October 1999 from the Uxbridge Fire Department to Mr. Beach, giving permission to Mr. Beach to cover tires in two ravines. Also in the letter from the fire department, it states that project was to be completed by Dec. 31, 2002. The Ministry of Environment was copied on the correspondence, and responded by agreeing with the end date.

Mr. Beach said he is still operating under the original provincial permit from 1999, and the above-mentioned letters were only to ensure the tires were covered to meet fire standards. The fill being trucked in now will also allow access to another area of the property to complete some grading, said Mr. Beach.

Mayor Bob Shepherd said he has put a call into the Ministry of Environment on the matter, and has discussed with his own staff whether Mr. Beach is within his fill guidelines. "The issue is who trumps who," said the mayor, referring to the Township and the Province. "Generally the higher level of government trumps the lower.... I think the issue here is if (Mr. Beach) exceeded his permission from the Ministry of Environment."

Meanwhile, the Township has passed a bylaw amendment forbidding fill to be trucked into properties on the Oak Ridges Moraine, which Mr. Beach's property falls within. A new fill bylaw is being drawn up in the meantime, said Mayor Shepherd. "It may permit fill (on Oak Ridges Moraine) under certain conditions," he said.

But the bylaw will not apply to Mr. Beach yet. "(The Township) cannot act until we know what agreement (Mr. Beach) has with the Ministry of Environment," said the mayor.