HomeMy WebLinkAboutPD-56-92 THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE
REPORT
Meeting: General Purpose and Administration Committee File # 6
Date: Monday, February 17 , 1992 Res. #(2_11'L`_ ___J_1/L_
By-Law#
Report#:___RD-56 -92 File#:
Subject: BY-LAW ENFORCEMENT
BRUCE WOOD PROPERTY, TOOLEY ROAD
Recommendations:
It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and
Administration Committee recommend to Council the following:
1. THAT Report PD- 56 -92 be received;
2 . THAT Staff be directed to enforce the Waste Material By-law
and the Property Standards By-law as they pertain to Mr.
Wood's property forthwith.
3 . THAT Mr. Wood, Mr. Simkins and Mr. and Mrs . Greer be advised of
Council's decision.
BACKGROUND
1. 1 The By-law Enforcement Division had received a complaint concerning
an accumulation of old asphalt, bricks, steel bars and mortar as
well as uprooted trees and shrubs stored on the Wood's property.
In addition to the presence of the debris, the Complainant was also
very concerned about the dangerous situation created by the ponding
of water between the large mounds of material. An inspection was
subsequently done to confirm the nature of the problem.
1 .2 Mr. Wood maintained that the material was not his and had been
pushed onto his property by workmen employed by Mr. Fred Simkins
who was constructing a house to the south of the Wood property in
1989 . Mr. Wood objected to removing the material as the cost had
been estimated at several thousand dollars .
1. 3 Mr. Wood had indicated that he would be willing to simply level the
piles and use them as fill but stated that he did not know if that
could be done legally. Staff undertook to determine the
suitability of using the material for fill. In the course of the
investigation, comments, both verbal and written, were requested
from the Ministry of the Environment and the Durham Region Health
Department.
2 2
REPORT NO. PD-56-92 PAGE TWO
COMMENTS
2 . 1 It became apparent very early in the investigation that Mr. Wood
did not want to deal only with the problem of the piles of material
but wanted to include various allegations and suspicions about the
property to the south of him owned by the Greer's .
2 .2 Despite Mr. Wood's contention to the contrary, Staff view the
entire situation as comprising four separate matters:
( 1) the presence of waste material on the Wood's property;
(2) who put it there and would pay for its ' removal;
( 3) the suspected presence of asphalt under the septic bed
of the Greer's property; and
(4) the alleged presence of contaminants in Wood's well.
2 . 3 There is no verifiable evidence that there is a layer of asphalt
directly under the Greer's septic bed. The site was inspected by
the Health Deptartment at the time of construction and it has no
record of the presence of asphalt in that spot. There is however
old broken up asphalt under the driveway.
2 .4 Water samples from both the Greer's and the Wood's wells have been
collected and analyzed by both the M.O.E. and the Health
Department. To date the tests have all proved negative. The water
does, however, contain a concentration of naturally occurring
hydrogen sulphide. This probably accounts for an offensive odour
which has been reported by one of the neighbours .
2 .5 There remains the problem of the piles of debris on the Wood's
property. The situation is governed by two separate by-laws, 90-
160, Waste Material and 82-63, Property Standards .
2 . 6 The Waste Material By-law prohibits the use of lands within the
Town for the storage of domestic or industrial waste of any kind.
This includes "material resulting from or as part of construction
or demolition projects, rubble, inert fill" and any material which
"appears to have been used up, in whole or in part or expended or
worn out in whole or in part. "
2 . 7 The Property Standards By-law requires that "all yards be kept
clean and free from rubbish, debris and ashes, health, fire and
accident hazards . "
2 . 8 These two by-laws form the basis for Staff's position that the
material must be removed or levelled. The question of who placed
the material on Wood's property in the first place is a CIVIL
MATTER. The Waste Material By-law does prohibit the dumping of
waste on another persons property, however under the Provincial
Offences Act there is a statute of limitation of six months from
the time of the offence to lay any charges . By Mr. Wood's own
1 ? LCD
REPORT NO. PD-56-92 PAGE THREE
statement the material appeared on his property at least two years
ago. Had Mr. Wood wished to pursue the alleged illegal dumping of
the material on his property he had ample opportunity to do so at
the time and chose not to. As the owner of the property, the onus
is on Mr. Wood to maintain his property in compliance with the
Town's By-laws.
2 . 9 Mr. Wood had requested advice as to whether or not he could use the
material as fill. The governing authority on this matter is the
Ministry of the Environment. They have maintained that they have
no objection to the asphalt, bricks, concrete and mortar being used
as fill on the land, however, the decomposable material such as the
wood and metal would have to be removed.
2 . 10 Mr. Wood was notified by registered mail on November 6 , 1991 of
this fact and advised that he was to have the lot levelled by
November 30, 1991. This could be accomplished by either removing
the material from the property entirely or removing any wood and
metal and then grading the remainder.
2 . 11 Mr. Wood then requested a meeting with Staff and a member of
Council to discuss the matter further. Mr. Wood stated that he
was not satisfied with the M.O.E. response and would not agree to
level the lot. He now wanted the. comments in writing. He also
would not remove the material because he had not put it there in
the first place. Staff have now secured M.O.E. 's and the Health
Unit's comments in writing. Copies of their responses were
forwarded to Mr. Wood and his lawyer and are attaached to this
report.
CONCLUSION
3 . 1 Pursuant to the By-laws quoted above, the Town has a responsibility
to ensure that properties conform to certain minimum standards
which have been established under the two by-laws cited above.
Considerable time has elapsed since the waste material first
appeared on the Wood's property and the Town no longer has any
jurisdiction to become involved with the issue of who put it there.
The question of who pays for the removal of the material is a
matter for the civil courts to decide and is ultra vires the
jurisdiction of the Town.
3 . 2 Both the Waste Material and the Property Standards By-laws place
the burden of responsibility for property maintenance on the
property owner. If he, in turn, wishes to sue any parties that he
feels are responsible for the dumping that is up to him and should
have no bearing on the enforcement of the By-laws by the Town.
Similarly, the other issues such as the suspected presence of
asphalt under Greer's septic bed and the alleged well contamination
also have no bearing on the enforcement of the By-laws .
22 �a .
REPORT NO: PD-56-92 PAGE FOUR
3 . 3 The issue here is by-law enforcement and ' Staff must take
appropriate action to ensure by-law compliance. Since various
parties have spoken to Council and the matter was referred to Staff
for a report, Staff have not taken any further enforcement action
until authorization is given by Council, as recommended in this
report.
3.4 The interested parties listed below have been advised of the date
of the Committee's deliberation of this matter.
Respectfully submitted, Recommended for presentation
to the Committee
-A
Franklin Wu, M.C. I .P. Lawrence E. Kotseff, M.C. I .P.
Director of Planning Chief Adm$�istrative
and Development Officer lr
LC*FW*MH
INTERESTED PARTIES TO BE NOTIFIED
Mr. & Mrs . Robert Greer Mr. Fred Simkins
4235 Tooley Road 18 Prince Rupert Drive
BOWMANVILLE, ONT. BOWMANVILLE, ONT.
LIE 1Z4 LIE IZ5
Mr. Bruce Wood
4275 Tooley Road
BOWMANVILLE, ONT.
LIE 1Z4
12. 28 �
• N
'e O
n ;r
b V
w
o-00
LOCATION OF ASPHALT
AND WASTE MATERIAL
S ITE '
N
22
23 24
26 b�0 373•9a'
01 2 162.12'
2 28
• w 29.b3'
3 i i 21 LORD DUNCAN COURT 9 s 27 �ea•9e'
n
20 _ 19 IB WAs.
4 _
17 21°.eb `�o3a
38
b• 16 � `pro"�
M �1s X14' 39
0 40
r
7 14 A o 41
in qa
Q 42
A
X O' N
° 8
13 43
w
F.
4 � �
44
W T 9 J
J 112 r
O 12 °a
Z 45
0 10 11 ^"' CL m BLOCK 52
♦ N b
Y N
46
o°
zoc•as' 276.76' ��
2
190.16 164.19 pT TA
147 360.00'
130.00 z33.00
PART I PART 2
48 q 10R 420
0 51 50 49
�^ rz•99 .O
F
4
157.36' 164.05' 246.06' 240.71'
462.00' 1 130.0 ' 233.00•
PEBBLESTONE ROAD
�, 2 2 �) �1
l
, 1
October 29, 1991
DURHAM
REGION
Mr. Bruce Wood
The Regional 4275 Tooleys Road
Municipality
of Durham Courtice, Ontario
DEPARTMENT OF LlE 1Z4
HEALTH SERVICES
HEADQUARTERS` Dear Mr. Wood: -
301 Golf Street _
Oshawa,Ontario -
_Ga9a4(tlIG4132.:._ . �.. -.
(418)723.8521 y - Re:'-- Complaint Inspection..
Fax(418)723.8026 .
4235 Tooleys Road
R.J.Kyle,MD,MHSc,CCFP,FRCPC
Medical Officer of Health Courtice, Ontario
Owner: Mr. Greer
Dear Mr. Wood:
As requested, this letter is to confirm our onsite discussion-on October 28,
1991 with regard to the potential effects of old asphalt material alleged to
be deposited beneath the private sewage disposal system at the above
property. Our comments are as follows:
1. To the best of our knowledge, the installation of the private sewage
disposal was inspected and approved in accordance with Ontario
Regulation 374/81 under the Environmental Protection Act (sewage
systems): A Use Permit was issued on November 5, 1990.
.2. The determination and confirmation of the potential effects of asphalt
material deposited on a given site is a jurisdiction of the Ministry of the
Environment contact person, Mr. Rod Adams, Ministry of the
Environment, 7 Overlea Blvd., 4th Floor, Toronto; Ontario - M4H.lA8,
(416) 424-3000.
3. Our discussions with Mr. Adams and Mr. Smith of the Ministry of the
Environment revealed that old asphalt material in an inert material with
relative insignificant hazardous effect but this point should be clarified with
the contact person as noted.
...2 .
Drench Offices:
120 CO nt L I lei Ave, I 1 Lambert St. P Suite 3Ot j- Oshawa Exec,Centre Pk;kming Town Cite.
Il1AX Onh L 1^u 2H5 OOWMANVILLE.OnL L I C 2L1 El 2 Campbell Drive Family Planning 4336901 �-1 Family Planning
(410)683.41360 E] (4 16)023.2.511 UXBRIDGE,Ont.t.00 (KO Inlnnt Dav,PrOV.433-0091 1 (410)420-0781
(4161852-9 161
- 2 -
If there are any questions regarding this matter, please o not hesitate to contact the
undersigned at (416)723-8521 (Ext. 175). j
Yo s truly, I
-- A.C._.. on C.P.H.I.(C)
- ---- ---- —�fiief Public Ylealth Ins ctor
ACW/cb-
cc: Walter Powell - Bowmanville Office
Rod Adams - Ministry of the Environment
UMinistry Ministbre Central Region du
of the de Region Centre
Environment I'Environnement
Ontario
` 7 Overlea Boulevard 7,boulevard Overlea
4t1i Floor 486tage
Toronto,Ontario Toronto(Ontario)
M4H tA8 M411 1A8
416/424.3000 4161424.3000
Fax:416/963.2935 Fax:416/963.2935
1991 12 13
Mr. Len Creamer
Town of Newcastle
By-Law Department t
40 Temperence Street
Bowmanville, Ontario
L1C 3A6
Do-, 1"r y8 J.
Dear Mr. Creamer: '
Re: Bruce Wood Property
Lot 32, Concession 4
Town of Newcastle (formerly TMT. of Darlington)
Further to our recent conversations .regarding the use of asphalt as a fill material, in
particular, Mr. Wood's concern with the use of asphalt as fill by his neighbour, I have
enclosed a copy of a September 1988 document entitled, "Management of Surplus/Waste
Materials Generated Through Road Maintenance and Construction", from the Ministry. of the
Environment's Waste Management Branch.
Section II (b) (entitled "Inert Fill") discusses the acceptable use of concrete, asphalt and other
waste aggregate. The document states that the use of asphalt as a fill material can be
considered where the potential for impact on ground or surface water is minimal, as some
materials may impart taste and odour to water supplies. Also, note that a Ministry internal
memorandum, dated May 16, 1990, (paragraph 2) states that this opinion is supported by the
Ministry's Legal Services and Approvals Branches. Prior to utilizing asphalt as a fill material
the local Ministry of the Environment office should be contacted to discuss the acceptability
of the site for this material.
As well, I have enclosed a copy of a computer print-out from the Ministry's water we 11 data
base for well water supplies•in the vicinity of Mr. Wood's property. The print-out indicates
that there is a layer of clay to approximately 20 to 25 feet below grade in this area.
According to Mr. Wood, his well is approximately 80 feet deep.
f
..2
°?
Page 2
Mr. Wood has also expressed a concern that asphalt fill was used under the area of his
neighbour's septic tank file bed. According to Mr. Fred.Simkins, builder for the neighbour,
asphalt was only used in the vicinity of the driveway. As well, Mr. Tony Wong, Durham
Region Health Unit, stated in a letter to Mr. D. Beach of this office, dated November 19,
1991, that "the inspector involved who conducted the final inspection of the sewage disposal
system did not recall observing asphalt material at the file bed area, nor had he any prior
knowledge that asphalt material had been deposited below the sewage disposal area".
Based on the above•information', the Ministry of the Environment has no objection to the use
of asphalt as fill material on the property south of Mr. Wood's property.
Should you wish to discuss this matter further, please call me at 416-424-3000.
Yours tr 1 ,
R. Adams
Senior Environmental Officer i
York Durham District
CC. D. Beach
F. Simkins
T. Wong
encl.
I
I
i
I
� 7 I