GREENSTONE — Residents are raising a stink in Greenstone, and for good reason.
At the council meeting held by Greenstone’s municipal council on Dec. 11, Coun. Claudette Trottier brought forward a discussion item related to septic fields in Beardmore and expressed concern on behalf of residents of the community.
Trottier said it's been an issue since the summer, with residents unable to find a contractor or company to empty their septic fields and tanks.
She said that although there are businesses in the community who do provide such a service, they are simply “too busy” to attend to the growing number of residents who are in need.
But the issue is not entirely isolated to Beardmore, Trottier pointed out.
“I had correspondence from as far as Nakina all the way through Geraldton, Beardmore [and] Peter Drive… It is a concern, and it’s a growing concern, because people still have not been able to have their septic pumped out. With nowhere in the municipality currently able to take this, they just don’t have an option. We need to give our citizens an option."
“I know that we’ve got this as an item for our service delivery review and for our waste management plan, but I feel that’s going to be a little too far away to help anybody, even coming in the next year.”
Trottier sought council support to direct municipal staff to amend Beardmore Lagoons' environmental license, allowing Greenstone residents to dump their septic waste or hire available contractors to do so instead.
Coun. Matthew Donovan, although sympathetic to the issues residents are facing, was nervous about amending the license due to environmental concerns and the possibility of non-residents taking advantage of an opening.
He also stressed that Ontario’s ministry of the environment, conservation, and parks has a tendency to change policies and practices in a way that presents challenges to the municipality.
"Any time we open an environmental license, it’s the possibility of an inspection [or] a review," he said. "Any kind of government agency looking at it and updating a policy… that we are no longer in compliance with or incompliant with until we decided to option to change it. I’m just nervous about that, really nervous about that."
"The other [issue] would be anybody that’s not [from] the municipality dumping in the lagoons and us not controlling what’s going in the lagoons."
Mayor Jamie McPherson concurred.
“Because these [environmental compliance approvals] are so old, it gives the ministry of the environment the opportunity to put in more caveats, and I understand the issue we have… the problem for us as Greenstone is [that] when we go to open up these ECAs… it gives the ministry the chance then to come back,” McPherson said.
But with waste piling up, urgent attention is needed to address the issue.
Coun. Fran Koning made it clear the issue is no joke in her response.
"As someone who lives on a septic system, I have to agree with Coun. Trottier. This is a serious matter for a lot of us. There are people in Jellico – at least eight houses in Jellico plus a municipal facility – that need pumping out. Yes, there is a provider that will come and do it, but they need somewhere to dump. We need to come up with a plan here. This is getting serious for some people. I don’t know if you know what it’s like to have your sewer back up into your house, but it’s not fun."
A motion was passed by council to circle back to the issue at the first council meeting in February and address whether a proposal should be drawn up for the amendment to the Lagoon license.
Coun. Trottier maintained her stance, however, that sooner is better in terms of implementing a solution.
“I feel strongly about it. I hear what you’re saying, but… the Beardmore Lagoons was able to allow that same company to pump out Polar Lodge Park – all the outhouses and septic at the park – which is still part of Greenstone and the residents are part of Greenstone, and our own municipal facilities were allowed to pump in there. I really still have a hard time with not trying to facilitate something that is going to help our citizens."
