Large group braves cold to protest odour control facility
Jan 24, 2009 - 02:25 PM
By Jennifer O'Meara
PICKERING -- Residents and potential neighbours to a controversial sewage odour control facility (OCF) braved the bitter cold on Saturday, Jan. 24, to protest the project.
"If this was summer we’d fill the whole block,” said Peter Herrmann, one of the organizers of the ‘Stop the Stink’ protest at Kingston and Glenanna Roads. “The residents obviously don’t want that built near us.”
Stop the Stink is a group of residents opposed to the possible Cherrywood location for the OCF, which is being built to treat York Region’s sewage, as part of the
York-Durham sewage system. Pickering takes sewage from York to the
Duffin Creek Water Pollution Control Plant. The proposed new sewage
pipeline and OCF is needed to handle York’s growing population and will
only serve York Region. There were five potential sites considered for
the OCF and all five were in Pickering.
The new sewage project would filter sewage gas and then release it into the air within 300 metres of a nearby subdivision.
“They’re going to emit all these sewage gases right over our houses,” said Don Harvey, one of the organizers. “It’s an existing community, an existing neighbourhood. How fair is it to build that right in our backyard?”
The residents are worried about the potential smell and health impacts of the OCF.
“It’s going to smell really bad,” said Gloria Mendes, one of the protesters.
“We’ve been living here our entire lives,” added Rachel Mendes, “Send it back where it came from. Deal with your own mess.”
“We don’t want to have to leave,” echoed Gloria.
“We don’t appreciate other cities dumping their trash in our area,” said Michael Singh. “There’s no benefit for the people of Pickering.”
Neighbours to the project are also concerned about how the sewage facility will affect their house resale value.
“They’re saying the property values won’t go down. Whose going to buy down-wind from that?” asked Liara Ellis.
Devi Gopalan moved into the area two days before notices went out about the OCF. She said her family knew about the sewage pipeline when they bought the home but if they had known about the OCF going in one kilometre away “we would have never bought here”.
Earlier this month, Pickering council supported the residents and opposed the proposed site for the OCF and told York to consider alternate locations. The City actually has no control over the OCF placement, the project is in Durham Region’s hands.
The residents are now focusing on convincing regional councillors to oppose the sewage project in their neighbourhood, writing MPPs and the Ministry of Environment. The group has collected 1,176 signatures through its online petition at www.stopthestink.ca.
“Enough is enough,” said Mr. Herrmann. “It’s not to late to get involved.”
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