Adam Prudhomme
Editor
After a nearly yearlong legal battle with Stone Mills Township over a proposed hog farm operation in the heart of Erinsville, a group of concerned citizens is lobbying to prevent similar situations from arising in the future.
Concerned Citizens for our Community Environments (CCCE) Inc., a volunteer group of Stone Mills residents, are calling on Stone Mills to enact a bylaw that will require the municipality to provide advanced notice and allow time for consultation on future proposed developments that could impact ‘public health and safety, the environment, or quality of life in its community.’
A push for a new set of guidelines comes in the wake of the much-publicized proposed hog farm development. In June of 2020 Stone Mills council awarded a building permit to Mark Slack of Slack Family Farms to allow for a 1,200 livestock farm on Waddell Road in Erinsville. The approval came despite objections from the CCCE which argued the location was not suitable for the operation, citing potential for run-off into near by Beaver Lake as well as noxious odors that would be emitted to the nearby elementary school and church. After multiple attempts to get council to reverse the decision, in September the CCCE filed a legal challenge against Stone Mills Township to have the court overturn council’s decision. Earlier this year Slack withdrew his application just before the deadline to file his submission to the court and then withdrew his application from the township, instead applying to build a smaller building to house about 55 per cent fewer livestock-no more than 499 sows and no weaner pigs or cattle. According to the CCCE, the new application falls under the Stone Mills Nutrient Management Bylaw, but comes with much fewer conditions that would have been required to be met for the larger operation.
“We had terrific responses from the community. That was a really positive outcome,” CCCE member Jeff Whan said of the legal challenge filed regarding council’s decision on the hog farm. “Everyone’s really, if they weren’t already, tuned into the issue of protecting our spectacular lakes and rivers. The smaller operation is certainly better than the original proposal in terms of size. The fact that these checks are not in place is of concern. We were somewhat pleased with the outcome but not completely pleased. The fact that this can now go ahead without any checks at all is really not a good thing. Projects should not be able to do that that are risky. That’s part of our concern. When we look back at the whole scenario, the conflict was a difficult situation for council, for staff, for the community. I think we were all frustrated that council felt they had to defend this decision (to award the building permit) and the community really felt let down by council. It was pretty acrimonious and that’s not a good thing. We really think it’s not a good thing when the ratepayers have to take council and the township to court to have their wellbeing considered in the decision. The current framework the way approvals are done in the township is cumbersome. We were told as we went through the process that they really had no choice but to approve this project and they could have been sued if they didn’t. That’s just not right. We think that the wellbeing of the community should be paramount and wellbeing measured in different ways. Not only on the environment, which is critical, but also who wants the spreading of manure immediately behind the hamlet and all the people living there? There should be an opportunity for those neighbours to have their concerns considered in the decision process. We believe that the current framework needs to change.”
Community member’s objections weren’t limited to the project itself but also in the way it was approved. They felt not enough notice was given prior to the matter coming before council.
Stone Mills Reeve Eric Smith says council responded to their concerns by seeking further review from OMAFRA, the Ministry of the Environment, Quinte Conservation and KFLA Public Health. They also had an independent review of the documentation before council issued the building permit. In talking with the municipality of Tweed, where Slack owns a similar operation, council says there was not one complaint filed against the farm.
“Despite all council’s efforts to meet with CCCE and share all the above information, the group proceeded to pursue the issue through the courts,” said Smith, which led to Slack withdraw his application and instead request a smaller scale one. “An operation of this size does not have the strict regulations that the original proposal had and although OMAFRA still regulates the manure spreading rules, the farm will not have the rigid regulations in place that the original sized barn would have had. How anyone can think this was a successful outcome for Mr. Slack and the community at large is truly mind boggling.”
The CCCE says one of their goals is to help create a bylaw that would allow for input before a decision is made, compared to having to try and reverse a motion passed by council after the fact.
To do that, Mark Oliver, also of the CCCE, says they’re urging council to form a committee that would be made up of members of council, township staff and a wide representation of community members to provide input on a potential bylaw.
“I think it’s part of the trend that’s starting to take place across Eastern Ontario, municipalities are trying to implement plans to have a transparent, open process that identifies ways to communicate information about upcoming projects to the ratepayers and also to the developers where all of the expectations are clearly defined, they’re laid out,” said Oliver. “It allows the developers to plan for those environmental concerns right from the get go and it puts everything out in the public eye for awareness. We think that should be an automatic process.”
Following a contentious couple of months, Oliver said they’re hoping to mend their relationship with council and work together going forward. The committee wouldn’t be a permanent group; rather it would be dissolved following the creation of the bylaw.
“The Township is in the process of completing its review and update of the five-year official plan,” said Smith. “Comments and recommendations will be included in the official plan if council wishes. Council always welcome input into our policy development but have not established committees to specifically develop bylaws. These decisions are made by elected councillors through public forum.”
The CCCE say the bylaw needs to be a priority as they expect it will be well used in the coming years. They see the proposed hog farm expansion as just the tip of the iceberg in terms of future development in the area.
“It might not be an intensive livestock operation,” said Susan Moore of the CCCE. “It might be a quarry or it might be a cannabis project or it might be a festival. Any kind of big event really needs to have the kind of mechanism so that everybody knows about it ahead of time and people are allowed to weigh in on any concerns.”
Whan says getting the committee formed would be the first step followed by presenting a bylaw to council for approval. He says though council has been open and receptive to hearing their deputations, he’d like to see concrete steps being taken towards enacting a new bylaw.
“We feel that this is not receiving the priority it should receive, that this should be moved up and we should start the process of getting this done immediately and independent of the official agenda which is underway,” said Whan. “It should take priority. We should get this in place ahead of all the other things that are going on. We’re making an appeal to the community and ratepayers to get in touch with their councillors to get them on board for putting a bylaw like this in place right away.”
The CCCE is asking anyone interested in having input on the matter to email ccce@kos.net or visit their Facebook page www.facebook.com/STOPErinsvilleHogFactory/.
“Let’s work together,” said Moore. “The only way to really prevent this kind of confusion and discontent in the future is for everybody to get together on the right kind of mechanism so that we have a much clearer future and the environment and our community is going to be protected.”