Organics Facility Feasibility Study

My wife and I live approximately 100m directly across from the proposed site. Frank Wright, owner of Williamson Insurance, is a septuagenarian who was raised in Waupoos. Growing up here, he remembers playing shinny with other local boys in winter on the frozen wetland of the proposed site. Further, apparently a previous owner of our property brought water from the wetland via a pipe under the road to a well on our front lawn, piped into the crawl space under the original house (built in the late ‘50s). We used to have an otter family take up residence under our back deck in late winter; in late spring. the mother would take the pups
across the road to the wetland on the proposed site. This year, it seems a lynx has moved in, it’s been spotted several times sitting quietly on the side of the road across from our house or our immediate neighbours before crossing to the Smith Bay side, likely to hunt the many wild rabbits or rodents we have. We can look forward to an explosion of rodents from the organic waste treatment facility, no doubt.

There is also a high probability that the existing rodent problem will get significantly worse, which might be fine for the coyotes in this area but not for pets, children, or pedestrians.

I have other comments but they mostly repeat those of my neighbours. It’s also highly likely that property values will be negatively affected both for those people who live on top of the escarpment but also the growing numbers who live on Smith Bay, as several new builds have been constructed along Nutty Lane or laneways from CR13.

In summary we are strongly opposed to an organic waste treatment facility in the proposed location. I am not opposed in principle, but any facility needs to be located as far from residential areas as possible, be environmentally appropriate to the site - the N Marysburgh site is not appropriate.
Jack Corman
2076 CR8 RR4
Picton ON
6134711370

I invite my neighbours to check out the website of an organic treatment and recycling firm called Convertus Group that operates around the GTA to see what a state of the art operation looks like.
The company’s facility turnaround time for the material is short offering a closed loop composting system to also recover the biogas.
This community should partner with a large company to handle what will be growing amounts of organic waste as the population grows in a responsible and sustainable manner.

The PEC presentation shows only pictures of fields with no details of what a site would look like operationally.

Eugenia Venchiarutti

Re: Site 1
There are a number of reasons that the North Marysburgh Waupoos site is not appropriate for an organic waste site.
The proposed location is very close to residences and with the possibility of noise, odors and traffic, this could negatively impact residents and potentially the property value of homes located here.
The position of the site on County Road 8 could also pose a hazard as it is at the top of the hill (when driving towards Picton) and on a curve which is a bit of a blind spot. County 8 is already a very busy road without shoulders and with many cyclists riding on it during the summer season and better weather. It is ready challenging to walk along this road.
We already experience a lot of truck traffic heading into the Harrison operation and the potential placement of the waste site in this location would add to this truck traffic. Additionally, the placement of the site close to the Harrison site would result in making this section of North Marysburgh appear industrial and not the residential neighbourhood and popular tourist destination that it is. As it stands there are apparently already environmental issues with the operations at this site.
Site 1 includes a pond, creek and a marsh which numerous animals use as a home including the Blanding turtle and several varieties of frogs. An installation of this sort at this location would very likely negatively impact their habitat and ecosystem.
Thank you for considering these points.

I gather that the site selection will factor into the technology selection, however, for this PCC phase, it's rather hard to evaluate the impact such a facility will have on the surrounding land and residents without actually knowing how the facility will operate. It would be beneficial to the public if you share what type of facility would be best suited (and most likely used) for each of the selected sites.

Looking at the 5 sites proposed, each seem to have features that meet exclusionary criteria, e.g. the Shannon site backgrounder says the "Entire site designated as Prime Agricultural Land" and the Ridge Road and Hallowell sites are both "located within a vulnerable significant groundwater recharge area." Is there a document outlining why these five sites were proposed in the first place? Should we assume then that there are no areas within the County that properly fulfill the actual Evaluation Criteria?

Perhaps before adding more waste to what is already at the proposed site at the corner of CRs 8 and 13, the County should focus on cleaning up the environmental disaster zone next door at Drew Harrison’s yard. Not only are there frequent billows of black smoke coming from burning things that don’t resemble anything wooden but if you walk around behind the yard and look at the hill-side from below, you will be disgusted by what is decaying (and causing decay). This area needs cleanup, not more garbage.

North Marysburg, Waupoos Site. This property adjoins environmentally protected escarpment which in turn becomes a large swamp with many protected trees and other flora and fauna. This swamp runs into Waupoos Creek which in turn runs into Smith Bay which is part of Lake Ontario. I notice in the pictures that there are large amounts of pools or alvars on this property. This is a very important site for frogs. Which include Chorus Frogs, Spring Peepers, Leopard frogs and later on the American Bull Frog. On the South West corner of the property there is a Marsh. Complete with cattails and other vegetation. This is home to many frogs as well as turtles. Among the great variety of turtles are included the Snapping turtle the Midland painted as well as the Blanding turtle. I personally enjoyed escorting a Blanding turtle across the road in the direction it was travelling last egg laying season 2023.
The excysting wet lands shown in the picture. These wet lands or Alvars are there at all times except during the extreme dry season which is usually in August, Even then the land is soft and mucky underfoot.
I just wanted to explain this to you and have it included in the documentation. This information is just the start of what flora and fauna are in this small area. Thank you Jackie Soorsma 613 471 0512