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Mono holding tight on fill removal order issue

November 5, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Peter Richardson

Mono Council deliberated over the contentious issue of the Fill Removal Order against 833231 4th Line and Mr. Paul Ritchie last week.

As previously described by the Citizen, this revolves around the property owner having unauthorized fill brought to the property to regrade a portion of it to allow a horse training track to be built there. Council ordered the fill removed and placed several provisions on the proof of this happening. Some of the nearby residents, told Council that they believed nothing had been removed from the property, while Mr. Ritchie stated that all of it had been removed and provided receipt tickets as proof. The Town’s engineers, meanwhile reported that everything had been completed to their satisfaction and independent testing show there was no solution in either the fill soil of the soil on the property.

Mr. Ritchie meanwhile had, on October 22nd, sent an email to CAO Mark Early siting his disappointment with the Council meeting resolution of that night. He insists that he has complied with all requirements and that officials of the Town and their engineers were on site at times of removal and stated their satisfaction with the removal. He said that his own engineers were not in attendance as he was unaware they were to be. In the letter he reiterated the amount it was costing him too board his horses, $4,800 /month and his projected schedule fro having them on his own property, May 2021. He also stated that he has approached OMAFRA regarding an appeal process and reach out woman agricultural attorney, though he hopes neither will be necessary.

All of this however has still not satisfied Councillors that the fill has been removed as per the order. Councillor Nix noted that two separate reports show a discrepancy between them as to the number of loads removed, one providing only 28 tickets fro 30 truck loads and the other, 30 for 30. Both he and Coun. Ralph Manktelow feel that not enough documentation has been provided, despite the report from the Town engineers. There is no question concerning the contaminants, but merely the truck documentation as to fill removal. When asked, the Town engineer, Mr. Gord Feniak of Burnside stated that although they certainly stand by their report, he feels that it should be supported by the requested documentation from Mr. Ritchie. Council decided that until such documentation is provided, they cannot move forward with this issue.

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