June Jakob's home is less than 100 metres away from where the town chose a two-acre site for its new waste transfer facility.
Less than three weeks ago, the 71-year-old low-income senior – one of Westwood Court Mobile Home Park's many vulnerable citizens -- was diagnosed with brain cancer. She also might have breast cancer.
Jakob wants to move into a seniors' residence for the long-term care she requires but with ongoing uncertainty of whether the dump will soon be built beside the park, her plan could be stalled, and even permanently derailed.
“I want to sell this place before they put the dump in,” said Jakob, who lives alone with her cat Willow, and was recently told by a realtor that if the town proceeds with its plan, selling her home quickly might not be possible. “He (realtor) saw my concern.”
Jakob, who has lived at the park since 1991, is also worried that if the dump is constructed beside Westwood, there will be excessive dust, smell and noise, the latter already an irritating issue from an adjacent industrial park.
“They work through the night and when you've got all your windows open in the summertime you hear everything, steel on steel. I don't want to be here,” she said.
Jakob, like scores of others in the neighbourhood of 230 residents, is planning on attending the open house at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre on Sept. 30 where town officials will present citizens with three site options for the new dump, including the one beside the trailer park.
Since last spring, when the town first announced its original plan, the town has heralded the proposed new site beside Westwood, located in the municipal yard near the intersection of 57 Avenue and 37 Street, as a “greener” and more environmentally-friendly initiative. They have insisted the new waste transfer facility will become more of a recycling and solid waste depot rather than a traditional dump that utilizes a noisy compactor and a smoke-billowing burn pit. However, town officials in their own report to council on April 28 also conceded the new site will require “consideration for the nearby residential area” and that a buffer should be built along the south side of the park to keep “smellier and louder activities” as far away from the residential area as possible.
Park residents, along with citizens outside the court, have vehemently opposed the original relocation plan from the beginning, emphasizing they were never properly consulted, the town ignored provincial government recommended guidelines and that a dump beside their homes will dramatically reduce the quality of life for residents, many of them low- income citizens who would be challenged to find similar affordable housing options in the town. In spite of these concerns, town officials have not taken the original plan off the table. In fact, it's still being seriously considered as a final choice.
“Yes, in order to compare it to the other ones and reach the validity of which one is the better one we have to have something to compare them to,” said Mayor Brian Spiller, adding the town's final choice will come before council next month. “It will be ready for the council meeting on Oct. 13 and in between that time we are going to have an open house and show the different options and hopefully that will help councillors and mayor to make their minds up.”
But in the meantime, uncertainty for the 230 residents at Westwood continues, along with suspicion that if the new dump is relocated beside the trailer court it will be constructed without its promised “green” design.
“The town says in its letter it will eventually quit burning. I know enough about government that words like eventually are carte blanche to do what you want,” said Westwood resident Dan Giesbrecht. “With that kind of wording the town can say all kinds of things but legally still have the right to burn garbage right beside our homes. I am not sure the town would necessarily keep their word on not burning.”
And that is a serious worry for 73-year-old Ann Urch, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and must rely on an oxygen machine every day to breathe properly.
“Even if they are not going to burn, they say they are going to mulch it,” said Urch, noting there are others in the park who rely on oxygen machines. “Do you think there is not dust and crap that is in the air from mulching? There is. And that would bother my breathing.”
Park owner Don Petersen said he will be attending the Sept. 30 open house and is hoping “calmer and sensible heads will prevail” and that the town will quickly make a decision to dump its dump plan once and for all.
“What we recognize is that this is really their home, and for a lot of people this has been their real home for a lot of years,” said Petersen. “I am really proud of them for saying, ‘Not in our backyard' because it is their backyard, and they are happy and proud to live there.”
