It’ll be a summer of stink in East Ladner.
That was the gist of Delta council’s discussion, and what some residents had to say, on the latest staff report on the contentious Green For Life Enviro-Smart Organics facility, a 72nd Street composting operation that has, quite literally, raised an ongoing stink in the community.
Any potential changes to comply with a regional air quality permit won’t be happening for a while as Metro Vancouver is still in discussions with the company over a permit.
Council was told Metro Vancouver has a pair of draft permits for Enviro-Smart, but Delta has not been allowed to be involved in the conversation between the company and district.
What Delta has been able to learn is that Enviro-Smart will have the option of a permit that authorizes emissions from a fully enclosed facility or a permit that temporarily authorizes emissions from the existing facility but would not allow it to continue in its current form after a certain date.
Council was told the issuance of a permit is the critical next step which will provide a road map toward improvements at the facility and put Metro Vancouver in a better position for enforcement action.
Council had already stated it would support an application to increase capacity but only under a number of conditions, including the facility being fully enclosed.
Engineering director Steven Lan, who toured fully enclosed composting facilities recently in Ontario, including one owned by Green For Life, said Metro’s permit process should be completed within the next couple of months.
Lan said the enclosed facilities he visited, behind concrete and treated with bio-filters, are vastly better than the open air compost operation in Delta.
“What we’ve seen is a facility that can manage odours properly and hopefully we’ll have something similar here,” he said.
Ladner residents who attend Monday’s council meeting left clearly frustrated at the slow pace, one saying it’s going to be “a summer of stink” and another saying it’s “just more of the same.”
Coun. Jeannie Kanakos asked staff if Delta has the ability to pull the business licence if residents’ health is impacted. Kanakos wondered if the physical, psychological and social impacts of the operation should be a consideration by the region on the company’s plans to increase capacity.
She didn’t get a direct answer on that one, but was told the issue of health impacts of odorous emissions was referred to Fraser Health, which has been invited to speak to Delta officials.
During council’s discussion later on Metro’s discussion paper on regulating odorous air contaminants, Lan noted that Delta’s experience with Enviro-Smart has shown a much better process to deal with such applications is needed.
“We want Metro Vancouver to be pro-active, not reactive. That’s where they need to go,” he said.
Lan added the region should move away from allowing open air facilities and composting operations should be state-of-the art and enclosed as a requirement from the start if they want to apply to increase capacity.
“It is important that any regulatory changes proposed are easily understandable, transparent, dynamic and allow for greater accountability to the public,” a staff report states.
