Archive

Airport continues to worry residents of Tottenham

April 11, 2013   ·   0 Comments

The Highway 9 aerodrome, formally known at the Volk Airport, has been under expansion for the past two years and the property is on its second ownership since work began. Residents of Tecumseth Pines, an adjacent community to the airport, say they have potentially been exposed to a number of environmental impacts with no sign of improvement.

Residents report  loud noises (work usually begins at 7 a.m., and runs until 7 p.m.), and excessive dust. An average of 300 trucks (600–1000 during the previous ownership) is reportedly entering the property each day. The amount of fill being received and its quality is worrisome for many. The airport is situated on the Oak Ridges Moraine, an area of high aquifer vulnerability. The homes within the Tecumseth Pines community rely on wells for their water supply and with the average being only 30 feet deep, potential contaminants within the fill could cause serious issues for the community’s residents. Tottenham Citizens for Clean Water has reached out to municipal governments and the owners of the airport, in hopes of preventing any contamination to the Oak Ridges Moraine and the wells surrounding Tecumseth Pines.

Some residents of Tecumseth Pines and Tottenham report that they have become “extremely frustrated” by the situation and feel they continue to be “unsupported by the Town”.

Aerodrome neighbours are also concerned that the scale of the operation at the site which they say has expanding over time – “It seems to have moved into a neighbouring property”.

In September 2011, the town issued a Complex Site Alteration and Fill Agreement permit with the owner of the adjacent property to the aerodrome. Tecumseth Pines residents are unclear as to whether or not fill being accepted has been tested.

After continuous protesting, the fill operation on the new property was finally halted, but only on a temporary basis. The owner of the new fill operation has applied for an extension to the Complex Site Alteration permit and it’s highly likely that it will be granted. Tottenham Citizens for Clean Water has failed to stop both operations and have now turned to testing the fill of both locations.

The residents of Tecumseth Pines say they were refused the opportunity to test the fill being received at the aerodrome and that the owners of the airport refused to provide the citizens with soil samples – although say they are willing to cover the costs of any testing required.

The fill operation at the aerodrome had been self-regulated during the previous ownership, until Green Soils Inc. was hired when the property changed hands. Green Soils Inc is a private organization that specializes in site-waste solutions, and the remediation of impacted soils. The Ministry of Environment recently issued a fill quality protocol (November 2012), resulting in the requirement for audit samples of the fill and the analysis of dump tickets. Residents of Tottenham are please with some form of regulation occurring within the fill operation, but are worried about the previous fill that was dumped before the quality protocol was instated.

The Town has yet to receive any audit reports from the soil that has been tested. Residents are worried that it might be too little, too late when it comes to possible contamination affecting the Oak Ridges Moraine and the aquifers within the area.

By Michael Tomasone

Readers Comments (0)