‘Deeply disappointed’

Dear Editor:

Fifteen years ago a number of residents including myself delegated to Erin council on the importing of fill to our town. It was covered by the Wellington Advertiser on Oct. 6, 2011 and titled “Erin residents have had their fill of town site alteration bylaw.”

It’s déjà vu all over again

The issues are the same as they were then and it was our efforts in collaboration with a council that took citizen imput seriously that led to the bylaw that this council has just amended to allow for the Hillsburgh pit and that will open the door for other pits in Erin.

The issues are the same now as then: noise, dust, property values, contaminated soil, road damage and potential remediation issues.

In the article: “council’s solicitor suggested the municipality does not have the expertise or the tools to regulate it. Council was also told once soil is contaminated it may be classified as hazardous waste and dealt with accordingly.”

Councillor John Brennan, the only current councillor who served at that time and voted in favour of this new fill in 2026, was quoted as saying at the 2011 meeting there appears to be a number of insurmountable problems. On the issue of policing this he said, “We can’t. We don’t have the resources and never will have the resources. To police this properly, your taxes will skyrocket – and that’s not what we want.

“Once you get contaminated fill, the problems escalate wildly. I don’t believe we can require a security deposit big enough to remedy the problem.”

In 2026, Brennan, despite knowing all the above and personally helping to develop a fill bylaw, voted in favour of the Hillsburgh fill project. I am deeply disappointed.

Tom Carroll,
Erin