The story about an illegal dump site near St-Eugène continues.
The current owners of an illegal dump containing a large amount of construction waste on property south of the village missed the October 15 deadline imposed by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks to remove it, according to East Hawkesbury Township Chief Administrative Officer Luc Lalonde. The owner of the waste now has until November 15 but Lalonde is not optimistic that the new deadline will be met. The 20-acre property, which was the site of a Royal Air Force (RAF) training base during World War II, is now owned by the township because the previous owner had not paid the property taxes.
The owner of the waste is responsible for the cost of removal, even though the township now owns the land.
Lalonde said that the future use of the land after it is cleaned up is still not known and is up to council to decide what happens next. However, he did indicate that it might be kept as industrial land.
The concrete wall that was part an RAF base structure will be preserved due to its historical significance.
According to Lalonde, the construction waste was dumped there without any permission and the township was not initially aware that the material was on the property. The previous landowner was not responsible for placing or accepting the waste on the property.
The present owner of the waste, whom Lalonde would not identify, is likely to face a fine from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change if the waste is not removed by the next deadline. The ministry has already inspected the materials and did not identify anything that is hazardous.
“It’s all dry construction material,” said Lalonde.
He added that most of the material was dumped on the flat, concrete slab that originally served as the former air force base’s tarmac.
