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HomeMy WebLinkAbout74-6246�, Report # 6 to the Members of the Planning Advisory Committee, To ^m of Newcastle from: JOHN LAYNG, Planning Consultant June 27, 1974 RE: DOM'S AUTO PARTS .LIMITED On May 30, 1974, Mr. Alex Carruthers, M.P.P. for Durham, wrote to the Chairman of the Regional Municipality of Durham noting; representations against the wrecking yard near Highway 401 at Courtice on the basis of the burning of old cars and the very unsightly yard; and requesting that some action be taken. This letter was forwarded to the Town of Newcastle and then to the Planning Advisory Committee for a Report. The yards in question belong to Dom's Auto Parts Limited and comprise about 50 acres in the southeast quarter of Lot 32, Concession 1, geographic township of Darlington. The whole property was zoned Agricultural (A) by By -law 2111, Darlington, approved by the Ontario Municipal Board on July 7, 1959• Aerial photographs taken in 1967 show that the land then occupied by customers' parking spaces, offices, shops, storage buildings and derelict motor vehicles totalled about 11 acres. The property is split, near the south end, by the CPR track and siding right- of-way. Today, under the present owners, who have operated the business since January 1968, almost all of the 50 acres is covered with derelict motor vehicles in addition to the previous parking spaces, offices, shops and storage buildings. DOM'S 2. The details of the control of the operation of this industry are now the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment under THE EUVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT, 1971: Regulation 824 (August 1973). The prescribed standards for the location, maintenance and operation of a derelict motor vehicle site (13b) are stated on page 8, following, for reference. Except in a one acre spot in the guest- central section of the site where masonry and lumber debris and old tires are being buried with screenings, this site could not be called a landfilling operation or a dump. This dumping operation should be prohibited now. The derelict motor vehicles go through a slow process of being stripped of their re- useable and saleable parts. After the completion of that stage, the remnants are stacked 3 or 4 high at the north and east fences awaiting; a mobile baler from Oshawa which compresses the stripped derelict motor vehicles for compact trucking to Toronto to a shredder which separates the ferrous from the non - ferrous materials for melting down at the steel mill. The owners claim that no open burning is done, in accordance with Regulation 824. From time to time, however, accidental fires do occur from the use of welding torches to cut the bodies, from the effects of scavenging and from grass fires. DOM'S 3. Each of the estimated 4000 cars is numbered and placed on an accessible, numbered lane according to a catalogue of make, model and year. The south end of the site has protected storage spaces for intact car doors, motors, transmissions, small parts, etc. The salvaged parts of the derelict motor vehicles are being sold over the counter or being shipped every day to the company's customers. This is the prime operation and the one which eventually reduces a derelict motor vehicle to scrap, ready for baling and shipment to the shredders. To operate this kind of an industry successfully, there must be a large selection of different kinds and models of used cars ready for stripping. That is why it is better for a region to have a few large operations rather than many small ones; or the individual rural and urban domestic yards with 2 or 3 derelict motor vehicles, seen so often as a scar against the landscape. The accumulation here of the high piles of scrap vehicles is dependent upon the market price of scrap metals. A high scrap pile usually means that the market price is considered to be too low, and that the owners are waiting for the price to rise. To some extent, the excess accumulations are also due to the limits of the capacity of the balers in the region and to the limits of the capacity of the shredders for the steel mills. DOM'S 4. Some of the owners of neighbouring lands are complaining about the dumping of materials and wastes not connected with a derelict motor vehicle site, about open burning of cars, and about the depreciation of the value of their property by the visual impact of this 50 acre waste lot. The topography of the site, sloping sharply from the south -west corner, north of the railway allowance, up to the north -east corner dramatizes the visual faults of the salvage yard, especially as seen from Highway 401. Higher fencing or tree screening would not be effective from this viewpoint but would be from the north and east sides. The slope, the operations and the low absorption of rain fall are also causing considerable erosion to the internal road surfaces and the screenings fill. A major stream system, immediately to the west of this property could be affected by the washdown from the salvage yards. This would be contrary to the regulations. A derelict motor vehicle site of this magnitude at this location is a penetrating; commentary on the present habits of our society to use and throw away the tools and materials of its progress. Abandonned and scrapped motor vehicles cause very costly problems throughout North America. This particular yard, because it is seen by so many, is a symbol of,the imperative need to advance all recycling techniques from their present crude methods so that such unit operations DOMIS 5• can be achieved efficiently without the waste and spoliation of so much land. It is no solution of the problem to hide such sites in more out -of --the way agricultural or wooded lands. This would be more infection of the clean country. The Ministry of Trade and Tourism recognizes this problem., but it cannot produce any effective measures to correct it. If the unit processes of stripping; and storing of re-useable parts, and the baling and shredding of scrap can be speeded up and made more efficient in enclosed structures, then the secondary effects of such re- cycling would be minimized in any community. These factory -type techniques would be expensive to initiate because of the heavy machinery required. IF THE CONCERNED MINISTRIES OF THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO ARE SERIOUS AND DETERMINED ABOUT PRESERVING NATURAL RURAL AND URBAN AMENITIES FROM DERELICT MOTOR VEHICLE SITES THEN SUCH WORTHWHILE CAPITAL PROJECTS TO RECYCLE WASTE WILL BE SUBSIDIZED BY THE PROVINCE. This is the reverse side of the coin of the manufacture and sale of new automobiles. Answers from several persons informed on this matter concede that the former Township of Darlington considered the whole 50 acres to be a non-conforming existing use. The salvage yard was established before Zoning By -law 2111 was passed by the Council on February 5, 1959; and the boundaries of the present 50 acres were described in the deed of land to that owner in May 1957. DOM °S RECOMMENDATIONS: THE PLANNING ADVISORY COM1,1ITTEE SHOULD RECOMMEND TO THE COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF NEWCASTLE THAT IT: 1. Prohibit the expansion of this derelict motor vehicle site beyond the present 50 acres. 2. Prevent a change of zoning for this property from 6. Agricultural (A) to Industrial (M-.2) at the present time and not before the final studies for the land use of the forth- coming District Plan of the Town of Newcastle. 3. Ask the owners to make their open storage more compact to free the sloping northwest 10 acres of the property from the low density storage of vehicles or parts, and reduce the total visual impact. 4. Require the owners to clear more of the south front of the property for off - street parking to alleviate parking on each side of the Base Line Road on busy days. 5. Request the Ministry of the Environment to apply all the requirements of Section 13b of Regulation 8211, under The Environmental Protection Act, 1971, to Dom's Auto Parts Ltd. derelict motor vehicle site. 6. Request the Ministry of the Environment to prohibit the use of any part of this site for the disposal of any waste. DOMIS 7• 7. Request the Province of Ontario to establish an advanced derelict motor vehicle recycling plant in this Region, at the earliest possible date so that such derelict motor vehicle sites will become unnecessary. Respectfully submitted, JOHN LAYNG PLANNING CONSULTANT R.R. 1, ORONO DOM'S Elf, THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT, 1971: REGULATION 824 (13b) The following are prescribed as standards for the location, maintenance and operation of a DERELICT J11OTOR VEHICLE SITE: 1. Access roads and on -site roads shall be provided so that vehicles hauling waste to, on and from the site may travel readily on any day under normal weather conditions. 2. Access to the site shall be limited to such times as an attendant is on duty. 3. The site shall not be located on land covered by water or subject to flooding and shall be so located that no direct drainage leads to a watercourse. 4. The site shall be so located as to reduce to a minimum inconvenience due to dust, noise and traffic. 5. Signs shall be posted at the entrance stating the times during which the site is open and any other condition with respect to the use of the site. 6. The site shall be so located and operated as to reduce to a minimum the hazards to health or safety of persons or property including hazards from fire and vermin. 7. No open burning shall be permitted. 8. All operations at the site shall be conducted in an orderly fashion under adequate and continual supervision. 9. That part of the property that is being used as a derelict motor vehicle site shall be enclosed to prevent entry by unauthorized persons and access to the property shall be by roadway closed by a gate capable of being locked. 10. The site shall be screened from the public's view. 11. Scavenging shall not be permitted. 12. All fluids must be drained from motor vehicles before they are processed and any fluids or other materials disposed of in a manner approved by the Minister if they are not stored for purposes of resale. A certificate of approval for a derelict motor vehicle site is subject to the condition that it shall continue to be maintained and operated in accordance with the standards approved therefor. 0. Reg. 382/73, s. 6 REPORT NO. 6 DOM'S AUTO PARTS LIMITED I have read Mr. Layng's report and concur with it, except that I feel that it falls to deal with the major issue as far as the munic- ipality is concerned v namely that the whole operation of this bus- iness has been greatly expanded and continues to be expanded in vio- lation of the municipality's zoning by-laws. In this case the extent of the legal nonconforming use is clear since the former United Counties had a by-law requiring wrecking yards to be fenced and that fence is clearly visible on aerial photographs taken before the expansion began. I must note that when a small salvage dealer recent- ly expanded the area covered ty his operation to a much smaller extent than Dom's virtually the whole staff of the municipality was sent out to inspect him and he was required to bring his operation back into conformity with the by -law. It is distinctly unfair to require small bilsinesses to conform to the bylaw while permitting larger operators to violate it, especially when those violations create large scale public eyesores, pollute the environment, and cause a devalauation of adjacent ratepayer's property. It is also some- what facetious to ask the Prvonce to enforce its regulations in this case when the municipality has done nothing to enforce its own. I feel that I have no choice but to recommend that a charge be laid as I would in the case of an other zoning violation. I recognize, however, that since this violation has continued for some time with- out any action being taken by the municipality some form of compromise continued...:...... 2 REPORT NOD6 solution may be justified, I would recommend that before any other action is taken a meeting should be held between Town Officials and Ministry of the Environment Oflicial responsible for salvage yards to try to determine a reasonable approach to this operation which currently is in violation of both our regulations, hespectfully submitted, / ,r/ George F. Howden, Planning Director,