BARRIE — Simcoe County’s proposal to put a waste transfer station and an organics processing facility at 2976 Horseshoe Valley Rd. W. has the Friends of Simcoe Forests roaring.
Yesterday, as the county held two public information centres on its “One Site, One Solution” at the Simcoe County Museum, neighbours and concerned residents handed out literature “One Disgusting Sight, One Stinking Solution.”
And because the Springwater Township site would require a rezoning, they’re using the tagline Reject Our Agricultural Rezoning.
The county, they say, is proposing to destroy a peaceful agricultural area in Springwater Township, as garbage trucks go to and from the waste management facilities, as odour emanates during the sorting of garbage and as the rural neighbourhood becomes more industrial.
“There’s a tremendous amount of wildlife that travels through that forest. You have everything from environmentally protected wetlands that are amphibian breeding grounds through to church remains (from the Apto Roman Catholic Church),” said Cindy Mercer, Rainbow Valley Road resident whose family property abuts the county site.
The county’s plan is to put the facility fairly far back from the road, however, to use the county forests to buffer noise and odour.
But Mercer doesn’t like that idea either.
“The industrial footprint of the building will be 11 acres. There will be a substantial roadway going almost three quarters of the way through the property for garbage trucks and transport trailers. It’s hard to understand how this doesn’t affect the entire 200 acres,” she said.
Mercer also highlighted economic impact as the site is next to the award-winning Nicolyn Farms and the truck traffic will destroy the picturesque nature of Horseshoe Valley Road between the resorts and the beaches along Nottawasaga Bay.
Simcoe County, after almost two years of searching and assessing more than 500 potential sites, selected this 207-acre site, which it purchased in the 1940s as it expanded its forestry program.
The county is preparing to do an array of studies, including hydrogeology, traffic, noise and odour, and an environmental impact assessment.
“We think we have the right site, the best site in the County of Simcoe. These tests will validate whether that is or is not the case. We’ll talk to the public all the way through,” said Warden Gerry Marshall.
Studies’ results would help determine the organics facility’s process and technology. After that, county council would assess a business case, before determining whether to go ahead or not sometime next year, he explained.
“When we have a sense of the technology (the OPF will use), we’ll bring that to the public. This will be a continuous conversation until council makes a decision. That’s a long way out, well into 2017.”
Marshall attended a series of 10 public consultations during the site selection process and yesterday’s public information sessions on the project.
The afternoon session attracted about 60 people and the evening session was even busier, with people asking questions, after having been briefed by Mercer and the Friends of Simcoe Forests.
Consultants and county staff responded to questions on the process, next steps the site design and technology, transportation, planning and studies and forestry.
“We’re talking about 11 acres of that 207 acres, and even that 207 acres is a very small piece of what constitutes the county forests,” said Simcoe County forester Graeme Davis.
The county owns 150 properties measuring 32,600 acres. In the last decade, the county has added 3,600 acres to its forestry program, including 436 acres in Springwater, Oro-Medonte and Clearview townships in 2015.
“People are understandably concerned about the traffic and unknown,” said Rob McCullough, the county’s solid waste management director.
“We believe the county can operate a transfer facility and an organics facility at the same site. There are synergies.”
He added four key studies are underway – the environmental impact study, the geotechnical/hydrogeological, the traffic and the archeological studies – and the others will follow
Simcoe County estimates 87 trucks per day would go to and from the site, which would boost traffic about two per cent. By 2038, there could be as many as 210 trucks.
“There’s a lot of things we need to do,” said McCullough. “At the same time, we’re determining how to best source the technology for the OPF and better understand the timeline for developing the site.
“You design the technology based on the known site conditions like the EIS and the geotechnical and hydrogeological.”
As the county assesses traffic – including travel patterns during the busy summer season – it will consider local road and intersection improvements to address issues neighbours raised yesterday, as well as how turning lanes would be needed to reduce delays for visitors enjoying the beaches and resorts.
