Tiny “Dumped On” By Simcoe County
Tiny becomes Simcoe’s garbage dump as Site 41, a 150 acre parcel of farmland in Tiny’s Conc. 2, was approved by the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) following a lengthy and costly hearing. The decision was given on February 2, 1995.
Tiny Township opposed approval of the site since it was first proposed a decade ago.
In 1989, a Joint Board hearing rejected Site 41 and denied approval to proceed. The 1989 decision noted that the process of site selection had been flawed. In 1990, the proponent, now the County of Simcoe appealed to the provincial cabinet. The Cabinet issued an Order-in-Council (OIC) ordering that the decision contained in the OIC “be substituted for that of the Joint Board”. This was followed by a second round of hearings before the EAB.
During the 10 year struggle, Tiny Township spent $1.4 million dollars trying to stop Site 41 from being developed as a landfill site. In approving Site 41, the EAB chair, Robert Eisen, ruled that the Ministry of Environment reimburse Tiny Township a portion of its prehearing and hearing costs for the second round of hearings. In April, 1995, the MoE paid Tiny $625,000. All of the money received was immediately disbursed to pay expenses incurred, in 1994, by the previous Tiny Council, including payment of an outstanding legal account of $324,000 and the replacement of borrowed funds.
A citizens’ group is appealing to the provincial cabinet. Mayor Anthony Lancia stated: “Council decided not to appeal the decision because any appeal could jeopardize the compensation awarded and Council, is unwilling to gamble with such a large amount of taxpayers dollars.”
