L-r, John Vangemeren, Randy Newman and his uncle Gary Newman have concerns about Bio Balance s proposed organic fertilizer facility near Warkworth, while Don Dudley, whose father owns the site, supports the idea. They and more than 75 other people attended an information session Bio Balance held Feb. 7 at the Warkworth Legion.Photo by Sue Dickens/For Community Press

Warkworth – An information evening held by Bio Balance turned into a heated question-and-answer session as concerned citizens filled the Warkworth Legion Feb. 9 to find out more about the company’s proposed organic fertilizer facility.

“I knew there were members of the community not receptive to this,” Bio Balance president Don Carr said the next day. “We are the new kid on the block. It’s their community and we were there to put our best face forward, to open up a dialogue.

The dialogue got “at times a little heated” but those expressing their opposition remained “civil,” he added.
Carr said “there were obvious questions to be asked” because even with a small “industrial site compost operation,” as Bio Balance is proposing to build at the former Warkworth Cheese Factory, using property where whey was once dumped, there are “issues of water and air and traffic.”

The open meeting also made public another concern people had, concerning rodents and coyotes.

Carr said his company will put up fencing.

“There are ways of dealing with coyotes. We didn’t anticipate this concern because when we looked at other compost sites across Ontario it was not an issue,” Carr said. “If it is an issue we will deal with it at the time.”

Carr said the location was chosen because of its ready access to the 401, a main transport route for the feedstock that will be coming in and the product going out.

Bio Balance has applied to the Ministry of the Environment for a certificate of approval to operate a composting site.

Carr said his company has a signed lease agreement with the owner of the compost site and is working on a agreement for the former cheese factory. Both properties are owned by Arnold Dudley.

Carr said power needed at the composting site, which lies to the south of the former cheese factory, will be supplied by generators that are “no louder than a cottage generator,” he told The Community Press.

Total cost of that part of the project is estimated to be $100,000.

Carr said his company will respond “one on one” to people who left questions.

” We’ve established a communication link and provided background on our company, providing as well a toll-free number and e-mail address so that dialogue is open for anyone who wants to contact us.

“When we are ready to proceed we will be putting out a press release and keeping people apprised of where we are going,” Carr said.

“We’ve got to earn our way into the community which is not uncommon for businesses. The ideal outcome is we do something that serves the community proud in terms of providing a green technology so others will come to the area.”

He added: “We know there is a lot of emotion about this. We are just glad the people came out and asked their questions. Although they may not be entirely comfortable with answers they got, at least they got to meet the people doing this.”

Don Cooper, president of Simpson Environmental Corporation and a professional engineer who prepared the application for a certificate of approval from the MOE attended last week’s meeting as well.

Responding to concerns that radioactive materials might have been dumped illegally on the property where the whey lagoon is located, Carr wrote in an e-mail: “In 1983, after the cheese factory stopped making cheese; a survey requested by the MOE was conducted of the lagoon, pond and the near-by stream to test for radiation. Eldorado Resources responded by commissioning a survey in agreement with the cheese factory officials and MOE. It was a thorough study of the air, water and sediments. The study satisfied the MOE request.”

Carr said Bio Balance, by investing in the property, also needed “assurance that it is not assuming any liabilities from previous use, so the radiation question was a consideration and addressed to our satisfaction.”

He also noted that the proposed composting site will be “uphill of the pond and lagoon. The pond where the ammonia nitrate was dumped is now dry and in-grown with poplars and brush. Bio Balance is not using this part of the property.”