Dear Mr. Gilchrist,
I am a Port Union Village resident; I am located in southeast corner of the development at 9 Eastport Dr (Lot 503). I have followed with some interest the progress of development on the remainder of the Manson site.
I listened intently at the public meeting held at Sir Oliver Mowat Collegiate on October 13, 1999. At that time I listened to presentations by R.V. Anderson, Ministry of the Environment and Peto MacCallum and I felt that most of the concerns of the neighborhood were addressed.
I heard how the contaminated soil would be handled. Protocols to ensure that dust levels were controlled and workmen would be protected would be followed. I also understood that there would be signoff from the contractor, MOE and the City's Peer Reviewer when the site was free of contamination.
Recent events at the site have shown the worth of the assurances and promises of all the parties involved. The MOE has stated twice that the site is free of contaminants only to have their assessment refuted by a local resident making a visual inspection.
The local resident found an area about 75 feet from my house that contained friable asbestos. The city was concerned enough to cover it with a tarp, put up a fence and post warning signs. I had assumed the established protocols that had been previously outlined would be followed to remove this hazardous material. This is not the case.
This morning I watched the "reclamation" of the area behind my house. There was no wetting for dust control; the workmen wore no protective equipment. There was no covered truck, there was no one to wash the truck down as it left the site on its way to a hazardous landfill site, in fact there was no truck. I watched as a spotter directed a backhoe while it scooped material from inside the fence the city had erected weeks ago only to spread it out over a larger area ten feet away. Abracadabra, no more asbestos.
Mr. Gilchrist, who is looking after the interest of the current and future residents, as well as the work crews who are being put at risk. Are we being put at risk due to incompetence or dishonesty?
K. M. Marriott
