Transfer station/biodigester

[cowman]

Things are getting warm! The squatters hired a high priced lawyer and I guess he wowed them at the last council meeting! Apparently it was a barn burner!
Maybe council was a little hasty with going ahead on this transfer site as this legal wizard claims Ag B is not really squeaky clean for a transfer site! It is a discretionary use...but he argues the applicant(County) is also the approver, which raises some interesting points of law! Council bulled through the start of the subdivision process anyway but there is probably going to be consequences down in paradise yet!
And despite all the rhetoric and legal maneuvering the cats and hoes continue to work and the tender has been let for the building.

[coppertop]

Problem is that at the pace the courts work, the thing will be built before the 'squatters' could get a stop work order issued !!

[cakadu]

Actually, that is true to a point. If I'm not mistaken in cases like these you can get a hearing for a temporary order relatively quickly. The timing of it may be more critical for the other side in that if the work is at a crucial point and it gets stopped, there could be further problems.

The urgency of needing some place for all that municipal/household waste may have prompted some of the action.

What I would like to have heard is the reasoning that the lawyer used - that would tell a person a whole lot. It is an interesting point that the "judge and jury" got to decide for itself what was right and wrong.

I'm sure there will be people awaiting every action.

[cowman]

And Linda consider this: The county has an abandoned "reclaimed" landfill fairly close at Ridgeview(Pine Lake) sitting empty? 160 acres of unused land...never will be sold...cost over $7 million dollars...was discontinued after only a small portion of the land was ever used? Whole quarter fenced with 8 foot chain link! Wouldn't it make more sense to put a transfer station there? You might consider asking your councillor why not? Does it make sense to let 160 paid for acres sit for eternity and instead buy 40 acres of prime farmland for $800,000?

[coppertop]

Cowman, Alberta Environment has the final say in siting a land fill or expanding an existing one. Perhaps the close proximity to the lake has something to do with that particular location not being suitable for expansion.

[cowman]

Well coppertop, that might be the kicker, although this would not be a landfill...simply an above ground transfer site? But I do suspect the county doesn't want Alberta Environment looking too closely at their old landfill! You see there is a dirty little secret hiding out there...the liner failed and seepage entered the aquifier below the dump....and you guessed it...is heading to the lake!

[coppertop]

cowman, I would venture a guess that many of the old landfills have a similar story to tell. Any area where there was significant industry activity over the years has likely got all kinds of 'secrets' at their local landfil.

In our community the county has paid to use the town's landfill and formed a landfill authority years ago with the county picking up 25% of the total tab of land expansion, actual landfill costs etc. Now the county finally realizes that they have been 'hosed' all along and are opting out of the agreement, the only kicker is that the county will still be on the hook for their share of the reclaimation costs whenever the town decides to abandon the facility.

They had an environmental study done about 12 years ago and it didn't look pretty, so the reclaimation costs are in the millions. They have been taking in garbage from all over the province for years to help defray the cost of operation, and now the damn thing is filling up so fast they need to site a new landfill. When I was on council we purchased a piece of land for that purpose but the current council thinks it will be cheaper to pay a contractor to haul garbage away elsewhere. We may all be getting roadside pickup, which I already pay for on my own, or we may have to haul our garbage to the transfer station instead of the landfill. The hamlets will likely get curbside pickup or have big dumpsters somewhere within their boundaries.
Garbage is a costly business and so is recycling.

[coppertop]

I forgot to mention that we aren't allowed to burn garbage unless its in an enclosed container withh a proper cover that prevents sparks from leaving. We cannot burn plastic, so farmers with their twine, silage bags etc. have to haul it to the landfill. The silage bags are the problem, usually any farmer that uses them ends up with portions of them blowing all around the countryside and the rest of us pick the stuff up !!

[cowman]

Well it seems to me both of the systems we live under are similar? I don't think we are supposed to burn any plasic or used oil or stuff either, but I guess what they don't know won't hurt them?

[coppertop]

The only time I will burn anything is when there is lots of snow on the ground and the stuff I burn is well away from any buildings, bale stacks etc.

[cakadu]

Could you please come and talk with some of my neighbors, coppertop? They burn anything and everything - high wind, drought, dry as a bone, you name it - whenever they want to.

We've got one neighbor building a house and you should see the huge plumes of smoke and flames coming off of what he is burning. A bare quarter sold beside us and while we aren't sure of whether it was the old or the new owner buring a whole pile of refuse, we could see the flames and how high they were from around 3/4 of a mile away. This occured back in December when there was no snow cover and all that dry brown grass was still showing.

I wonder what it is about people and moving to the country as they seem to think that once they own that piece of land, they can burn whatever and whenever they want.

[coppertop]

If they are creating a lot of smoke they are required to post signs on the roadway warning people about it.

You may want to check with the county and see what their fire by-law states regarding burning building materials.

Ours is very specific about what can or cannot be burned in a rural area, I was on council when it was developed and we met numerous times with the fire chief and fire guardians to make sure we didn't put things in it that were impossible to monitor.

Anyone burning refuse is required to ensure that the fire is out, so if it does start up again in the spring during windy conditions the individual who started it in the first place is fullly responsible.

There are fire bans here, no outside burning at all not even in a fire pit until we get a good rain.

My neighbour always feels that laws are meant for everyone but her, and she usually ends up with a grass fire in her yard that gets out in the county ditch. Last time it happened the fire chief dropped in and gave her an estimate of the cost to the county for sending a fire truck and water truck out to extinguish the fire, and he told her that if it happened again she would be footing the entire bill plus have charges laid against her, so she has had an attitude adjustment, not to mention looked pretty foolish to her neighbours !!

[cowman]

Linda: I believe as of last year you have to get a fire permit to burn anything as well as for a burning barrel or a burning pit? A call to your local fire dept. might be in order to ensure there is compliance...although it might not be all that good for neighborly relations!
I have a home built out door furnace so am able to burn a lot of stuff although it makes a mess of the ashes! Darned tinfoil etc.
With the new transfer station fairly close it will be less of a problem.
There is one old boy west of Bowden who has a fairly good solution to tin cans in my opinion? He digs a pit, throws all the tin stuff in there, lets it rust out and buries it! He claims it is really good for the soil...and maybe he is on to something as he raises one hell of a garden on the reclaimed site!