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Jeff Green | May 24, 2007

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Addington Highlands passes budget, "mothballs"Denbigh dump

by Jule Koch Brison

Under pressure from the Ministry of the Environment (MoE), at its May 22 meeting, Addington Highlands Council voted to temporarily close the Denbigh Waste Disposal Site, effective July 1, 2007.

The Waste Management Committee had met with Jon Morish, an MoE inspector, on May 8. The MoE is still awaiting the results from water sampling, but Morish said that in the meantime the Denbigh site is over capacity and recommended that the township “moth-ball” or close the site. Morish made it clear that he wanted an update from council on the site within a week or two.

Councilor Louise Scott said, “I’m afraid that if we don’t set a date, they’ll just come in and close it.” Reeve Henry Hogg agreed that was a likely scenario. Councilor Helen Yanch proposed a motion to moth-ball the site until further notice, effective July 1. Reeve Hogg then asked for a recorded vote, and the motion passed unanimously.

The township is still investigating the possibility of expanding the Denbigh site in the future Councilor Eythel Grant said that surveyors had started work there on Tuesday. Council also decided to expand the hours at the other waste disposal sites to lessen the impact of the closure. The Waste Management Committee will meet to set the new hours.

• Council debated how to respond to a map that was given to them by AHEAD (Addington Highlands Economic Advisors for Development). ATV traffic is legal on Addington Highalnds Township roads, but not on county roads. At the May 7 council meeting, AHEAD had requested that a portion of County Road 29 be made legal for ATV traffic in order to connect two trails in the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance network. Reeve Henry Hogg had told AHEAD that he would bring the proposal forward at the county council table if they provided a map showing exactly what is being requested.

“It goes right through the village of Flinton,” Hogg said. Councilors Grant and Scott supported passing the request on to county council, but Councilors Yanch and Kerr opposed it, so the request was defeated.

• The Land o’ Lakes Lions Club will be holding their annual voluntary toll in Northbrook on June 28, 29 & 30.

• The council meeting was enlivened by the presence of about 16 students from the NAEC Grade 10 Civics class, along with their teacher Joel Hasler. After the meeting, the students were asked what they thought of it. One replied that he had learned something, while another said she had found it interesting.

Three percent increase

in tax rate approved

Addington Highlands ratepayers will be paying more in taxes this year, an increase at approximately the rate of inflation. An increase of 3.5% in the county levy was responsible for some of the increase, which township expenditures will rise from $1,542,984 in 2006 to $1,593,981 in 2007, and increase of $51,000, which translates into a 2% increase in the local tax rate.

With education taxes being unchanged, the overall levy increase will come in at 3%.