No mystery fill wanted: Hamilton bans dumping of out-of-town construction soil

Flamborough dumping hot spot Waterdown Garden Supplies, where an estimated 24,000 truckloads of material were offloaded

Hamilton has banned trucks from dumping out-of-town soil within city limits amid reports of a last-minute rush by GTA developers to off-load mystery fill on local farmland.

Council held a special meeting late Wednesday (October 16) night just to fast-track a bylaw amendment that prohibits local dumping of any fill excavated outside the city. The new rule is effective immediately.

The rare emergency vote was necessary, argued Stoney Creek Coun. Brad Clark, because residents are reporting an "exponential increase" in the number of trucks dumping on local farmland.

"We're talking about hundreds of trucks," Clark said. "If we wait, we're basically lighting a neon sign that says 'bring your fill to Hamilton before we change the rules.'"

Worried rural councillors describe "acres" of formerly productive farmland covered in gravel-laced fill. Dozens of trucks queued dangerously on busy roads. Nighttime dumping. Even a rogue truck tipping over into a ditch.

Clark argued Hamilton is becoming even more of a "target" now that other surrounding municipalities are cracking down with their own dumping rules.

Glanbrook Coun. Brenda Johnson agreed, arguing trucks are "coming in fast and furious."

Johnson said one farm property on Kirk Road had been receiving 125 truckloads of fill a week — until the city pulled the landowner's site alteration permit just last week.

"They can say it's clean, but is anyone standing at the end of the laneway counting trucks or testing what's inside? No," she said. "We don't want anymore Waterdown Gardens."

Developers and brokers paying rural landowners to take excavated fill is a long-standing local problem.

But the issue went critical in April after a Spectator probe into the players involved in Troy dumping hot spot Waterdown Garden Supplies, where an estimated 24,000 truckloads of material were off-loaded in piles up to 10 metres high.

Following that story, Flamborough-Glanbrook MP David Sweet called on the RCMP to probe businesses linked to the property because of alleged ties to Pat Musitano. The Hamilton mobster was shot repeatedly in April shortly after leaving a meeting with a lawyer acting on behalf of one of those businesses.

Since then, the province has also vowed to beef up regulation of fill excavation, testing and dumping.

A total bylaw overhaul is still slated to be considered by council in November.