‘Twenty-year sentence’
Dear Editor:
The Town of Erin recently changed a bylaw that will fundamentally alter the character of Hillsburgh for the next two decades. By green-lighting the pit infill project, the town has invited up to 150 dump trucks to thunder past our front doors, six days a week, for up to 20 years.
As a realtor, I am held to a strict fiduciary duty. I am legally and ethically required to disclose “material facts” – anything that could affect a property’s value or a person’s use and enjoyment of their home. If I sold a house on a haulage route and failed to mention 150 trucks a day, I would face severe professional consequences.
Yet, the town seems to believe that meeting the “bare minimum” legal requirement – notifying only those within a 120-metre radius of the pit – is sufficient.
Let’s be clear: the impact of 150 trucks doesn’t stop at 120 meters. It travels down the 8th Line and through the heart of our village. It carries with it noise, diesel fumes, road degradation and a significant risk to the safety of our children and neighbors.
To suggest that a resident living 150 meters away or directly on the truck route isn’t “impacted” enough to deserve a personal notice is an insult to our community.
If a private professional is expected to be transparent about how a project affects a home, why is our municipal government allowed to hide behind a technicality?
Our leaders have a moral duty to the people they represent that goes far beyond the minimum requirements of a provincial handbook. We deserve better than a 20-year sentence of industrial traffic without so much as a conversation.
Karen DeRooy,
Erin