There’s a storm of a different kind brewing in East Delta where the palpable stench of the Enviro-Smart Recycling Facility at 4295 72nd Street somehow was allowed to be constructed on arable farm land which should have been protected under the Agricultural Land Reserve. That land has been loaded with mountainous tons of material (including green waste from the City of Richmond) and the scent it emits is off-putting.
If you ever are driving on Highway 17, you will know where this facility is by exit 13 with a smell like offal and of course the preponderance of eagles that have found the location a good place to pluck their prey. For local residents, it is not only an eyesore, but the scent is overwhelming.
The facility was originally owned by West Coast Lawns and was taken over by GFL. While it is in the Ladner area of the City of Delta, there have been rumblings that Delta’s process for approving this development may not have been too transparent. The Chair of the Metro Vancouver Board Greg Moore had indicated that Delta’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) George Harvie (who is now running for Mayor) represented that Delta ” had strenuously objected to Enviro-Smart obtaining an air quality permit and had objected to public consultation regarding the company’s applications to increase tonnage.”
As reported in the Delta Optimist a memo written by Metro Vancouver’s environmental and regulatory enforcement manager has been shared by neighbours and it has made some people very upset. A City Councillor Robert Campbell (who is also running for re-election) stated “I am angered, puzzled and disappointed to learn – more than five years after the event – that Mr. Harvie strenuously opposed public consultation to discuss the Enviro-Smart composting operation in Ladner. I believe the public has a right to know all of the facts…If (the) memorandum is accurate with regards to the conduct of our former city manager – and notably Mr. Harvie’s alleged opposition to consultation with Ladner residents – we need to get to the bottom of it. Local residents are confused by conflicting statements from the municipality’s retired city manager and current members of council.”
A Freedom of Information request (FOI) has been made for the documentation related to the original decision to be brought forward. Meanwhile George Harvie is indicating that those records will show that Metro Vancouver was busy with air quality permits for other locations and did not get around to permitting the Ladner location. The current Mayor of Delta Lois Jackson has issued her own memo and underlines the fact that there needs to be a Metro Vancouver Air Quality Permit~but why was this not required as a condition of getting a development permit for this use five years ago?
In his defence George Harvie also says ” On this file I was the one that forced, without any support from Metro, when we did our green waste contract with Enviro-Smart, I made them sign a contract that they would not accept any of the waste that was generating odours. Since then a new company came in and that requirement is not there. It has turned into a regional operation instead of a local operation, which was not what it was intended to do.”
But how did a huge facility that brings material onto a site get approved on some of the best arable farm lands in the province which were in the Agricultural Land Reserve? And how did any waste recycling contract developed by the city not have a binding agreement for generating no odors based on the landuse, not the ownership? Sadly these are questions that may have been answered and dealt with had there been a transparent public process with the surrounding community. Meanwhile those neighbours wait to see the results of the FOI request to learn what public process and agreements were originally made, and fervently hope that the smell can be mitigated.
Images: BCTV
