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70 attend peaceful protest at former Volk Airport

June 12, 2014   ·   1 Comments

Members of ‘Tottenham Citizens for Clean Drinking Water’ held a peaceful protest, causally titled ‘Stop Airport Fill, Protect our Water’, at the site of the former Volk Airport for two hours last Wednesday.

Lining the north side of Hwy. 9, about 70 people, including residents from Tecumseth Pines, campaigning politicians and members of the three bordering municipalities (Dufferin, Caledon, and New Tecumseth), participated in a protest against what they are calling an “unregulated fill operation” and “not the construction of an airport”.

Angry about the clear-cutting of hundreds of trees, the multitude of trucks entering and exiting the site daily, the lack of regulation concerning the quality of fill being placed at the site and the duration of the “never-ending” fill operation (with no airport in sight), protesters waived signs as passerby’s honked their horns in approval.

While local and national media outlets gathered footage for TV, print and social media uploads, construction site managers filmed protesters from the inside the property boundary.

A post-protest statement released by event organizers declares the event a success, stating, “We came together to make a point, (united by) a common bond – we care about our water, our air and we are all fed up with the shenanigans going on (at the former Volk Airport)”.

Organizers were also pleased that they were able to hit the owners of the site where it matters most – in the pocketbook, as trucks carrying fill were directed away (presumably for the safety of the protesters and to avoid the cameras) during the protest.

In a letter to New Tecumseth Ward 6 councillor Richard Norcross, Tecumseth Pines resident David Francis wrote, “The Town’s (New Tecumseth) position on the monitoring the fill operation at Tottenham Airport, so we have been told, is to rely on the Ministry of the Environment to monitor the site. Our Freedom of Information request has found that the MOE made one inspection in June 2012. If you call that looking after the interests of homeowners who draw their drinking water from wells, it is disgraceful.

“Further more, the Town is obligated to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine, under the Oak Ridges Moraine Act, yet not only have thousands of truck loads of untested fill been dumped onto the Oak Ridges Moraine, the Airport operators have clear cut hundreds of trees to be sold to logging companies, and the Town turns a blind eye to this rape of the Moraine.”

Simcoe–Grey Green Party candidate Jesseca Dudun, who was onhand for the demonstration, also joined the circulating e-mail conversation.

“As I am sure most of you know or should know at this point, in the spring of 2012 the Tottenham, Ontario Airfield, formerly Volk’s Airport, was carting in 500 trucks a day loaded will fill from presumably the City of Toronto. Proof of clean fill was requested and denied. The airfield has accepted fill for the past 15 years and has stepped up the intake over the last two years. The story is to improve the airfield but plans for the runways are not clearly defined or shared.

“This airfield is bringing in as much fill as they want without a permit. As you know, an airport is federally regulated, and is not accountable to the municipality for its operations. They can change their landscape without any monitoring or controls. Several other Ontario communities have airports that receive fill, such a Burlington and Scugog.

“At this point, we have no idea whether this fill is clean or not. Without proper fill regulations, no proof is requested or provided to ensure fill meets Municipal standards and is free of harmful elements that can pass into our (including your) local water systems. To bring in clean fill, a homeowner would pay $250 a truck load but these dump truck companies pay the airport $75 per load to dump their fill there. If it was clean soil, then they could sell it and not have to pay to dispose of it. The Tottenham Airfield borders three different municipalities and three provincial ridings but is not accountable to any governing body for the fill they bring in or the alteration of the landscape.

We need the provincial and municipal governments to step up and own fill regulation. Issues could arise anytime – 5, 10, or even 20 years from now and the Municipality will be burdened with the cost of clean-up, which results in the residents paying. We ask for proof that the Tottenham Airfield is accepting only clean soil from regulated sources, and that they be accountable to local Municipalities and citizens for the soils they receive. It looks as though the fill operation site is now digging beneath the water table to create more space for the soil, as I’m sure you know, this could potentially contaminate the water for over 250,000 residents in the area (possibly including you).” Dudun, who also declared last Tuesday’s peaceful protest a success, made note of an important, and possibly overlooked, site occurrence:“We were successful in hindering production for the day and noticed another issue that is of great concern. During our protest a fueling tanker arrived which would indicate this organization if fueling on site and probably doing maintenance of their equipment and vehicles on site. I’m sure this type of production would require extensive contingency plans. What if there was a gas/diesel spill? Are they dumping oil from their equipment on the ground? The questions are endless.”

“If you care about the citizens in this area and are committed to the protection of our land please respond to this e-mail with suggestions of how you can help and what you will do to make a change,” she said.

Greg Locke, a candidate for Ward 4 councillor (in the fall 2014 election) for the Township of King, also participated in the protest. Locke, who is a member of the group ‘Concerned Citizens of King Township’ (cckt.ca) had this to say following the event: “We’re offended by the Town of New Tecumseth council’s refusal to enforce their own landfill bylaw. There are numerous recent precedents that clearly state that municipalities can enforce fill bylaws on federally regulated lands such as this.

“This is prime Moraine land. – specifically it is classified as a “Linkage” zone which is the second most valuable land for protection. As you know from CCKT’s engagement with the Moraine and Greenbelt reviews, we are very concerned by the lack of enforcement here. The MOE has been as seemingly useless in testing and enforcement as has New Tecumseth. If this isn’t a clear example where enforcement is need I don’t know which is. Contaminated fill will ruin the wells of surrounding residents and communities downstream that the underlying aquifers feed.” Locke continued to say that he feels that the occurrences at the Tottenham site may set dangerous precedents for future fill operations. “This is part of a regional problem. Entrepreneurs are adept at finding the weakest links (fill bylaws and enforcement records) in and around the GTA to find places to deposit this ‘product’. Federally regulated airfields are ripe as fill sites as historically municipal bylaws have been unenforceable on such lands. There are tremendous amounts of fill leaving Toronto from various developments and there is no clear mandate to comprehensively plan and enforce testing of soils being deposited in landfill sites such as this. Many development zones in the downtown Toronto area are brownfill sites, so the risks of contaminated soils being deposited on these sensitive lands is high. There are aquifers underneath these lands that a nearby community relies upon. The costs of remediating contaminated soils once deposited are extremely high, and most likely will not ever be borne by the organization making money off of this activity”.

Locke also said that although the site is located in New Tecumseth, he fears that this problem is affecting King Township, now and into the future.

“Many of the trucks travel up and down Highway 27 through Nobleton and Schomberg to get to this site. Every weekday morning residents and commuters must be aware that nearly 1 in 3 vehicles is a dump truck,” he said. “We are fortunate to have one of the stronger fill bylaws in the GTA, and to a large extent it has been enforced well, but we have been a victim before, in fact with the same entrepreneur who purchased the Volk aerodrome from the Volks. King is also a generator of fill, too. The development activity in King City and Nobleton create fill – where is it going? Is there a soils management plan that is part of the site approval process? No there is not.”

The group Tottenham Citizens for Clean Drinking Water plan to host future protests at the site, demanding attention for a problem that they say will cause permanent environmental issues at the site, for the Moraine, and for private properties surrounding the “airport”.

By Wendy Gabrek

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