Mississauga residents want answers about a Clarkson park that may be contaminated after coal fly ash was dumped there 40 years ago.

No fences or warning signs mark Birchwood Park where a 2010 environmental report commissioned by the City of Mississauga points to potential health concerns and suggests residents’ worries are valid.

“No one told us anything,” says Dan Davis, who lives near Birchwood Park and had put down a deposit for a townhouse in a failed development planned for a corner of the Birchwood Park landfill. “Even when we were lining up to buy townhouses on land that could be toxic, the developer didn’t say anything, the city had no cautions in the (development) bylaw, the public wasn’t informed that polluted soil would have to be remediated.”

A lightly wooded, grassy park surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and small businesses, Birchwood park rises to a high point about 20 metres above Lakeshore Rd. W. in Clarkson.

It traces its history to Mississauga’s industrial past when thousands of tonnes of Pennsylvania bituminous coal fly ash from the Lakeview power plant were dumped there by Ontario Hydro between 1967 and 1974. According to the 2010 report, 25 per cent of Birchwood Park has exposed fly ash.

The dumping of fly ash decades ago predates many environmental issues that today are considered controversial. High levels of the chemicals found in the byproduct of burning coal are linked by the World Health Organization to cancer and other diseases. Skin exposure, ingestion or inhalation is considered a health hazard.

And within Mississauga, Birchwood is not unique.

Mississauga officials are aware of five other former fly ash dump sites: Port Credit Memorial Park, Bruce Reynolds Park, North Sheridan Landfill/Springbank Meadows Park, Brickyard Park and Grand Highland Golf Course. Officials say all are monitored carefully.

After the 2010 report, city officials said they did their own assessment of Birchwood Park and had no concerns. Staff said there is no report or documentation to verify the city’s follow-up. Sometime this summer, the city plans to cover Birchwood with a half metre of soil.

Davis wonders what took so long.

“They don’t agree with the (2010) report, but now they’re going to put a Band-Aid on the problem,” he said. “Why hasn’t the city acted properly on this for so long? The health of children, all the residents, animals and the ecosystem could be at risk.”

Resident Judith Johnson goes one step further. “Our safety and the safety of our families, kids was completely ignored,” said Johnson, who like Davis had put down a deposit for a townhouse on the property.

Jeff Smylie, a senior environmental engineer with the city, said he first learned Birchwood might not have proper cover over the fly ash about six or seven years ago.

He said when he first started his job in 1998 fly ash was not a big concern. “It was viewed as quite an inert material.”

But more became known over time and research has shown dangerous toxicity in fly ash over the last decade, particularly in the U.S., where the approximately 600 coal-fired power plants have made it a controversial topic.

In June 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it was looking at new regulations for the disposal of coal fly ash. If enacted, the proposal would categorize fly ash as a hazardous waste subject to even stricter regulations when disposed of in landfills.

Smylie admits he’s “more concerned” about fly ash now.

An Ontario environment ministry spokesperson said it is conducting a formal review of Mississauga’s 2010 study and could ask the city to take further action.

Birchwood’s problems came to light about four years ago. Trees were uprooted when the site was being prepared for new houses and fly ash was found.

That prompted the city to commission the environmental site assessment. Almost three dozen test pits were dug across the park to see if toxic material is present and if there is proper cover.

The developer of what became the failed Clarkson Manors project, Michael Moldenhauer, said he had bottom ash removed prior to the project’s collapse. Bottom ash, also a byproduct of burning coal, is not as dangerous as fly ash.

City officials said they can’t confirm if the material was what Moldenhauer says it was or if he had it removed.

The environmental assessment stated the park is built on fly ash that has concentrations of arsenic and beryllium, and to a lesser extent boron and thallium, that exceed Ontario’s allowable limits for soil.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The Clarkson Manors land has since been purchased by the Vandyk Development Group, which plans to build homes there. Regarding a possible cleanup of the site, president John Vandyk said: “I will dig down 20, 40, 60 feet, whatever I need to remove if it’s necessary.”

A public information meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, from 5 to 8 p.m., at Lorne Park Secondary School, 1324 Lorne Park Rd.

For Davis it may be too little too late.

He said the city could have done more to inform residents, pointing to Mississauga’s corporate policy on developing contaminated brownfields. It states that community support must be achieved through proper communication.

Marilyn Ball, the city’s director of development, said the information was made public in the Clarkson Manors development bylaw, dated July 2006.

“It’s right here,” Ball said, pointing to a page at the back of the bylaw passed by city council. An appendix to a supplementary report attached to the bylaw includes a Peel Region comment that fly ash with potential concerns is located in the Birchwood Park area. “That’s right in the public report,” she said.

Davis laughed when told of Ball’s claim that the issue was made public by the city. “If this is how the City of Mississauga is going to treat a possible public safety issue, that’s pretty sad.”

Mississauga’s fly ash sites

• Birchwood Park

• Port Credit Memorial Park

• Bruce ReynoldsPark

• North Sheridan Landfill/Springbank Meadows Park

• Brickyard Park

• Grand Highland Golf Course

Read more about: