The Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) has offered to purchase a 10-acre piece of the Weissenborn Family’s property, bordering the landfill in Golden, for $72,000 plus applicable taxes.
The CSRD has said in 2017, they received an offer from the Weissenborn’s for 12 acres at $730,000. Andrea Weissenborn, whose family owns the piece of land, says she is unhappy with the offer, and allowing the landfill to expand was not their intention.
“All along, my family has said that we would be willing to consider selling some land that would be designated as an ecological reserve for residents and the public to use and would act as a separation from the landfill, not to expand the landfill boundary into the Town of Golden,” she stated in an e-mail.
The CSRD previously stated that a lack of adequate buffer zone around the landfill has created challenges, and a larger zone would allow for better management of litter, surface water, and other challenges with the proximity of the landfill to the neighbouring property. However, Weissenborn says that she believes there are issues with the groundwater being contaminated, and the original buffer zone has already been removed from the border.
“They are not at all committed to maintaining a proper buffer, otherwise they wouldn’t have taken the original one out,” she stated.
The offer to purchase would be subject to the property being successfully rezoned to comply with the Town of Golden’s Official Community Plan, as well as the Town’s other subdivision and zoning approvals. Currently, the land is zoned as reserve residential, meaning that it could be developed as residences at some point, Weissenborn pointed out.
“No one in this town would think that the price that they are offering is fair,” she said. “The only reason I can think of for such an offer is because the land has been extremely devalued by the litter, smell, and contamination.”
Between June and October 2018, the CSRD collected more than 200 bags of litter from the Weissenborn property, weighing nearly 1,000 kg.
“I am not sure why private property owners in the Town of Golden are expected to bear the insult of tons of garbage dumped on their property each year,” Weissenborn said.
The CSRD previously stated it plans to continue site improvements at the Golden Landfill, including completing the litter netting, which should help prevent litter from exiting the property, and they hoped to continue discussions with the neighbouring property owner regarding increased buffer area acquisition.
Weissenborn also voiced concerns about water contamination in Town of Golden wells, but the CSRD’s hydrogeologist with Western Water Bryer Manwell says the numbers aren’t out of the ordinary, and it would be difficult to tell if any contaminants came directly from the landfill.
READ MORE: Landfill may not be to blame for water contamination
In 2013, the CSRD began investigating off-site migration of landfill leachate, and has drilled two wells on site to help establish groundwater flow direction, which would help them better understand where an offsite well should be installed.
They also looked into water quality exceedances that were sampled from four domestic wells, and investigated stressed vegetation south of the landfill site.
In the spring of 2017, the Ministry of Environment (MoE) Protection Division staff conducted an inspection on the Golden Landfill and determined it is out of compliance with its operational certificate in a number of areas.
The CSRD was given a warning letter in July 2018 that listed the compliance verification information. The CSRD then returned a letter to the ministry detailing corrective actions to be taken and preventative measures it will address at the Golden Landfill.
READ MORE: Ministry of Environment warning letter to Golden Landfill
At a similar time when the inspection began, the CSRD was taking immediate action to respond to flash flooding events, which caused contaminated waters to leave the Golden Landfill boundary.
Since the flooding, the CSRD has invested in on site control measures to improve surface water management, and has hired a qualified professional to conduct soil sampling, and is in the process of providing remediation plans.
The CSRD stated that due to a number of issues related to the Golden Landfill and the Solid Waste Management Plan amendment project, the CSRD did not allocate funds for the property owner’s proposal. In 2018, CSRD staff initiated the appraisal process with a local land appraisal firm to develop a market assessment value for the piece of property.
