Air Park owner builds landfill hills – creates a valley around the home of an Appleby Line resident. It’s apparently legal.

 

 

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON.  May 29, 2013.  Barbara Sheldon knows the damn thing is there – she just doesn’t understand how someone can do what was done.

Basically there is a hill of earth more than 30 feet high –  100 feet from her kitchen window on the north side of her house  that blocks her view and she is convinced it is going to seriously impact her well water supply.

The hill  was built on the property to the north of her house and another hill is being built on the land to the south of her house.  The one on the south is not close to her house but it is right on her property line.  And she has no clear explanation as to what the purpose of all the land fill is.

Nor does the city of Burlington.  The land is owned by the Burlington Executive Air Park, which suggests someone has a plan.

Barbara Sheldon stands in front of a hill of landfill that rises from the north side edge of her property on Appleby Line next to the Air Park site. There appears to be nothing she can do to stop the work and the city seems to be powerless to do anything either.

Sheldon has a whole bunch of issues with the earth that is more than 30 feet in height on the north side.  “I used to be able to see Rattle snake point from the kitchen window – not any more” she exclaims. She knows who put it there; what she wants to know is where did it come from and what contamination might there be in that soil.  And by the way – can people do that – just dump loads of landfill on their land and lessen the value of my property, she wonders.

  Don’t people have to get permission and permits to do things like that?

The landfill on the south side of the Sheldon property isn’t as high (yet) as that of the north side but when it rains heavily the land where Sheldon is standing floods.  The Air Park owner Vince Rossi, claims he does not need a permit to dump landfill because his airport is federally regulated.

If you are a farmer and you want to do that – you need a permit but it appears that if you are an airfield, an air park or an airport – you get a pass because you come under federal jurisdiction and you can just thumb your nose at city hall.

Doesn’t seem right to Barbara Sheldon who has made her thoughts available to anyone with even one ear.

This land fill work has been going on for the past five years and no one at city hall has done much about it.  Those in north Burlington didn’t seem to get themselves organized until Vanessa Warren created an interest group and took the matter to city council.

Suddenly some action was being taken.  The city had learned there really wasn’t much they could do.  The person back on the file back in 2008 was no longer with the city – he was on the pier project when he was with the city.  THAT explains a lot.

Before Vanessa Warren delegated to city council, Teri Jaklin, an Appleby Line resident across the road from the Air Park wrote her Councillor, Blair Lancaster.  She was pretty direct:

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1 comment to Air Park owner builds landfill hills – creates a valley around the home of an Appleby Line resident. It’s apparently legal.

  • M. Dennis

    The Airpark land is NOT under Federal regulation – only the aeronautics part is, which applies to the safe operation of aircraft.

    Even if the dumping was legal, nobody or any business has the moral right to infringe on the rights of surrounding citizens.

    The damage already existing on the Airpark site must eventually be reversed & corrected, otherwise our City will turn into a free for all, with anyone doing whatever they please.

    North Burlington is a dump site of massive proportions – not a nice reputation to have?

    Editors note:
    Note that Mr Dennis is referring to the land, that is the ground the aircraft travel along. He maintains that is not under the jurisdiction of the federal department of transport. They, the federal government. have jurisdiction over anything aeronautical that happens on that land. Good point – will the city spend some of its money defending the interests of the residents who are getting the daylights kicked out of them by the person earning money dumping landfill.