County Council Defers Involvement in Landfill Peer Review

Wednesday, 10 October 2012 11:26

What will it take to get County Council to agree to be apart of Walker Industries peer review on the proposed landfill? For a second straight meeting, council deferred a decision on signing the Memorandum of Understanding Wednesday. Many councillors have concerns that the peer review will use taxpayer dollars. While others think that there needs to be more than one lawyer involved, because Walker has agreed to pay for the first one. The Mayor of Zorra Margaret Lupton is frustrated with these setbacks. "I'm very concerned that we keep delaying this. They tell me by February the Terms of Reference will be ready to go to the provincial government. We have nobody yet working on the Terms of Reference, let alone municipalities getting this peer review information back so we can study it. So we're putting ourselves very much behind," said Lupton. She says the more time they wait the less time they have to educate themselves. Warden Don McKay strongly believes the county should be on board. "We should be at the table ensuring that the studies that are done adequately reflect our concerns including the roads, transportation, water, and the environment," said McKay. County Councillor David Mayberry says once the changes are made, he's onboard with county involvement as well. "I want the county apart of this for sure because we have the expertise of staff here. The larger the circle of people that can provide input and suggestions and ideas, the better quality of work we'll see come out," said Mayberry. Tim Lobzun, a concerned citizen, wrote a letter to the county asking them to not take part in the peer review. He wrote, "If Oxford County is at the table of the Environmental Assessment, it will be more difficult to defend a refusal of a zoning change or site plan change at an Ontario Municipal Board hearing if that course of action is decided." But Warden McKay disagrees with this request and said, "As Warden of the County I couldn't disagree more strongly. We do have spheres of jurisdiction that will be impacted by this proposal."