Large trucks move back and forth along the berm near Gifford Hill by Oshawa’s harbour.

And according to the Friends of Second Marsh, the berm continues to grow by the hour.

The community group appealed to members of the Development Services Committee recently to try and get to the bottom of what the Oshawa Harbour Commission (OHC) is doing at the harbour.

“It has been continuing and has reached a point of urgency,” says Hugh Peacock, president of Friends of Second Marsh.

Executive Director Brian Braiser says they have discussed the berm repeatedly with the city and hope it will take some action.

“It seems that the Oshawa Harbour Commission is rapidly excavating land.”

He says since around Feb. 23, the berm was around 300 metres long and eight to 12 metres high. He also says a truck load of dirt is dumped on it once every minute, according to their observations.

“It’s a huge massive change to the topography. It’s not dredge materials,” Braiser adds.
“This is definitely not normal activity. This is highly unusual.”

Braiser theorizes the reason for all the movement of materials is because the OHC could be building a cargo ship slip.

According to Donna Taylor, CEO and port manager for the OHC, there is nothing to be concerned about.

“The story doesn’t change. We’re moving material to facilitate dredging operations now and in the future,” she says, adding the materials are both dredging materials and material from other areas on OHC lands. Taylor adds they are almost finished the project.

“It’s not the sum of what we’re taking out. I’ve explained we’re dredging out areas. It’s been growing since the first truckload. We’re moving materials.”

The dredging activity has been ongoing since October and has the Friends of Second Marsh concerned because it resembles some of the site plans for the proposed ethanol plant.

The group believes the new governing body that is put in place down at the harbour, once the city and federal negotiations are settled, should have say on what happens to the land. The OHC shouldn’t be changing anything, they state.

“This is something the new governing body should be deciding. We’d like to request that the city take certain actions.”

Harbour activist Larry Ladd wrote a letter to the committee echoing Friends of Second Marsh’s worries.

“Honesty, being transparent and accountable to the Oshawa taxpayer is paramount; we have a right to know what is and may happen to Lake Ontario and our waterfront,” he writes.

Friends of Second Marsh outlined six recommendations to committee regarding investigating the matter, getting clear answers, demanding the OHC cease excavation and construction, that council file a complaint to Transport Canada, the city investigate the deposits of the dirt to see about potential contamination, that there be public input from stakeholders and that the city request that the new Port Authority to be created have no current OHC directors on board.

The matter was referred to staff for further investigation and a report.