HomeMy WebLinkAboutNA2005_05_22The Pickering
16 PAGES ✦ Pressrun 46,600 ✦ Metroland Durham Region Media Group ✦ SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2005 ✦ Optional delivery $6 / Newsstand $1
UP IN THE AIR
Aerials earn top
results at meet
Page 9
STAYING OPEN
Hospital pediatrics covered
for another month at least
Page 3
COVERUP
Herizon House
gets blankets
Page 4
Pickering
loses
plant
appeal
Land value lowered
after reassessment
DURHAM — An appeal claim-
ing the assessed value of a sewage
treatment plant was too low has
backfired on the City of Pickering.
After several failed attempts to
have the Duffin Creek water pollu-
tion control plant reassessed, the
City was about to withdraw its ap-
peal when an assessment review
board said the property in south
Pickering was actually worth less
than previously thought, a report
to Wednesday’s finance and ad-
ministration committee said.
The City said parts of the plant
should be included in the assess-
ment, which would have added
$12.7 million to the value.
But the board disagreed, and
found some land, buildings and
structures actually reduced the
value by $4.7 million to $28.5 mil-
lion. The Region did not agree with
Pickering’s view and defended
against it.
The result is a win-lose which
equals itself out, the report said:
the Region will have to pay less in
property taxes for the site, but will
collect less from residents because
of the decreased value.
The plant is co-owned by the
regions of York and Durham and
serves both areas.
L andfills and business
recycling needed,
association reports
By Carly Foster
Staff Writer
DURHAM — Garbage disposal
here is on the verge of a crisis
and will cross the threshold if the
border to Michigan ever closes, an
industry association says.
With 3.5 million tonnes of waste
shipped to Michigan landfills in
2004 (200,000 tonnes of which
has come from Durham Region
since 2003), Ontario’s landfill sites
could not handle a border clo-
sure for more than two days, said
Rob Cook, executive director of
the Ontario Waste Management
Association (OWMA).
“That would be the doomsday
circumstance that no one wants to
think about,” he said.
But the organization that rep-
resents private sector waste man-
agement and recycling companies
says a plan is desperately needed.
Mr. Cook pointed to the lat-
est mad cow crisis in May 2003,
when the border was closed for
11 hours. Within that time, every
waste transfer station was full, Mr.
Cook said. During the Toronto gar-
bage strike in the summer of 2002,
garbage bags piled up in tennis
courts and parks.
If another border closure strikes,
Ontario would have no choice but
to store garbage on landfill sites
and slowly compact it, Mr. Cook
said.
The Region of Durham’s con-
tract with Miller Waste says the
company has to find another site
for the Region’s garbage if the bor-
der closes. Other options in the
contract specify Ohio, Pennsylva-
nia and Napanee, near Kingston,
said Works Commissioner Cliff
Curtis.
“Ontario is the worst jurisdiction
in Canada when it comes to ensur-
ing it has the capacity to manage
its own waste,” said the OWMA’s
Nigel Wilson. “No other province
ships more than one-third of its
garbage destined for landfill to
another jurisdiction, let alone an-
other country.”
The solution, the association
said, is more landfill capacity to
meet current and future demands,
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A RUDE VIDEO IN THE MAKING
A.J. Groen/ News Advertiser photo
PICKERING — Guitarist Grant Redman performs a solo during
Pine Ridge Secondary School’s recent open house. Redman is a
member of Rudely Awakened and the band was participating in the
Grade 12 communications technology demonstration, filming a five-
camera music video.
Garbage crisis
looms at border
✦ See Region, Page 2
A/P PAGE 2 THE NEWS ADVERTISER,MAY 22, 2005 durhamregion.com
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