Sylvie Paillard
[email protected]
Residents and businesses of the Industrial Park will soon be breathing easier, according to Owen Carney of Carney's Organic Recycling.
The business owner assured District of 樱桃视频council during a business licence hearing Tuesday (April 4) that his operation will soon be in compliance with rezoning bylaws requiring no odours emanate past his business property line. The District of 樱桃视频has given the business until June to comply.
"For 24-months we've had an odour issue and every time we'd fix one problem another one would arise," said Carney. "I apologize to neighbours. They've been very patient with us. At the end of the day, we didn't solve the problem soon enough."
On Feb. 27, the district gave Carney's notice of a business licence hearing that would deal, one way or the other, with the odours that have generated countless complaints from neighbours since the composting station opened on Queens Way in February 2004. Carney's moved the curing operation, thought to be the source of the odours, to a landfill site near the Cheekye Fan last November, but the odours persisted.
Municipal staff put forward three options for council's consideration: the first was to revoke Carney's Organic Recycling's business licence, the second was to suspend the licence and the third to enforce a relocation plan.
Carney said there was a "major difficulty" in a bio-filter and it needed to be reinstalled and the company would also stop exposing any composting materials to the atmosphere, always transferring the substance under negative air. But fine-tuning the operation will take time, he said, and requested that council allow until the end of May to fix the problem.
"What if in June it doesn't work?" asked Coun. Mike Jensen.
"There's a lot at stake for us, for the community and for the district to make it work," said Carney. "We will do our very best. At the end of the day, if it doesn't work, we'll be back here."
Carney agreed to Coun. Patricia Heintzman's request that Carney's inform neighbours when renovations are being done that may cause excess odours.
Coun. Corinne Lonsdale acknowledged the importance of the business, which reduces landfill dumps by 10 per cent and creates organic compost out of 20 to 25 tons of organic material a day - a figure that will rise to 50 tons a day, according to Carney.
Lonsdale said, however, that bylaws need to be enforced and, in this case, weren't enforced. Instead, it was left to neighbours to come forward publicly. Carney's suggestion that a neighbourhood committee be formed to assess the odour levels is not fair for neighbours who shouldn't have to deal with the problem in the first place, she said. The development of the Business Park will mean there will be less and less tolerance for any odours whatsoever.
Lonsdale asked Carney about the option to move the business to another remote location. Carney said he was pursuing land in the Cheekeye Fan adjoining the landfill, but it would take a year to get the lease. Relocating will mean dealing with the leasing of Crown land, rezoning applications and public hearings.
Mayor Ian Sutherland put forward a motion to allow Carney's Organic Recycling until June 30 to resolve odour problems and 12 months subsequent to that to move the operation, actively reducing the odours all the while. Council unanimously passed the motion.
