By Cecilia Nasmith

Northumberland County's standing Public Works Committee has passed a motion recommending a change to the province's Bill 197 (COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act 2020) relating to municipal autonomy in the development of new landfill sites.

The recommended motion called for would remove the veto power of adjacent municipalities located within 3.5 km. of a proposed site. Deputy Warden Mandy Martin's alternative motion – to reduce that distance to 500 metres – was passed instead.

County Manager of Environmental and Technical Services Adam McCue said one big problem is the lengthy and costly environmental assessment process that is part of any attempt to establish a landfill site. It creates a chicken-and-egg scenario, McCue said.

It is not likely that any adjacent municipality would be okay with a landfill within 3.5 km. of its borders without seeing that environmental assessment. And at the same time, what developer would be likely to invest the time and money in that process, knowing that it could be so easily vetoed.

Even if for any reason an adjacent municipality gave its okay in advance of an environmental assessment, McCue said, the process takes at least five years. This allows plenty of time for a subsequent council to overturn that okay.

“There's a fair bit of concern this may stifle any development of landfills in Ontario,” he stated.

While his department recommended doing away with that veto power altogether, they did provide the alternative 500-metre distance, “which is in line with the Ministry of the Environment guidelines for land use where the majority of impact will be realized within 500 or less metres of the landfill, not 3.5 km.,” McCue explained.

To put it another way, he noted that the Municipality of Quinte West is within 3.5 km. of the Brighton landfill. Had these regulations been in effect, Quite West could have declared they didn't want it developed.

Making her amendment, Martin said that even municipalities have to be good neighbours.

“We do this with development an planning. I think it only fair, if there are neighbours within 500 metres, they should have a say.”

The motion called for copies to be forwarded to Premier Doug Ford, Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks Jeff Yurek, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark, Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini and the Association of Ontario Municipalities.