Citizens' group loses appeal over Dundalk fertilizer facility development
Thursday, March 6, 2014
by MATT MCINTOSH
A court appeal to stop Lystek International Inc. from continuing production at its Dundalk fertilizer facility has been dismissed by three Superior Court justices, and the group responsible for filing the appeal still has to pay over $40,000 of the opposing party’s legal fees.
Members of the Southgate community group originally went to the Owen Sound Superior Court in the fall of 2012, losing their suit against the joint party of Lystek International Inc. and the Township of Southgate. Their appeal, which was heard at Brampton’s Superior Court of Justice on October 21, 2013 and dismissed on February 26, was based on an alleged conflict between the purpose of the Lystek facility and the township’s industry zoning laws.
More specifically, the community group argued the Lystek facility, which has been operational for almost a year and converts biosolids, septage, and other liquid organic waste into fertilizer, does not fall under the category of “dry industry.”
Dry industry is the only type of industry permitted in the area where the Lystek plant was constructed, and refers to facilities that only produce waste water from things like employee washrooms and the washing of vehicles, and do not use water for processing.
According to the official judgement, the three Superior Court justices dismissed the appeal because there was “no reason to conclude that the proposed construction would contravene the applicable bylaw.” They recount how, in the original court case, it was determined that the Lystek facility could indeed operate without municipal services, and was “a virtually dry process,” and therefore required no further debate.
However, James Cooke, vice president of the Southgate Public Interest Research Group, said in a recent interview that the Justices have inappropriately interpreted the term dry industry. As a waste processing facility, he said, Lystek’s Dundalk plant is not a dry industry, and the Southgate chief building official should not have issued Lystek a building permit in the first place.
“It’s an umbrella term,” he said. “Lystek uses water for a lot of things, and how they do so without using municipal water is kind of a mystery to everybody.”
In a press release published on February 26, Kevin Litwiller, director of business development for Lystek, said he is “confident that the building permit was properly issued.” In the same press release, Brian Milne, mayor of Southgate Township, applauded the court’s decision to dismiss the appeal.
“The Lystek building permit was issued after detailed due diligence and a complete review by the Township,” he said.
Conversely, Cooke said no due-diligence was employed, and in an email statement, also accused the township of illegally trying to change the existing zoning bylaws in order to label “waste-disposal and processing as an accepted land use.”
“The Court's verdict means that Dundalk residents will be forced to live with the stench of human waste processing. It also means that Southgate Council had the legal ability to force waste uses on an unsuspecting public through illegal secret meetings,” he wrote.
Litwiller responded in an email to a Better Farming reporter that any suggestions of foul odour coming from the facility are “total fabrications.”
He cautioned members of the Southgate Public Interest Research Group and any others against making “these types of false and potentially damaging statements about Lystek.”
As for legal fees, Lystek’s press release said the Southgate Public Interest Research Group has yet to pay the $40,000 it owes to the Township. Cooke said the community organization does not have to pay until the appeal process is complete.
“We can appeal the verdict, but now have to sit down as an organization and weigh our options,” he said. BF