Outcome from the City of Cambridge Special Council Meeting (Oct 19)

Hello everyone!

On October 19th I presented at the City of Cambridge Special Council meeting.

I urged Council to keep the Churchill Park dumping station open and reiterated the need for free and safe locations for RVers to dump their tanks. I reminded them that in fact, the sites aren't free, as we pay for sewage disposal in our water bills. I highlighted that without a safe and free location like Churchill Park, we will see illegal dumping into storm sewers, which then goes directly into our drinking water sources. 

Since there are some legitimate concerns with the current station locations (smell at the park, access to children in the parks), I asked that they look into ultimately moving the free service to the Hespeler and Galt waste water treatment facilities.  Particularly with the Hespeler treatment plant being just off highway 401, this is probably a much more convenient location for a lot of people versus driving through the City. This would cost the City nothing, prevent illegal dumping, keep our drinking water safe, and keep residents and voters happy.
I'm pleased to say that Council decided that for now, the Churchill Park and Preston dumping stations will remain open. They also asked the City to go back to the drawing board and come back to them with more information on the options I proposed. I'll be following up with the City Clerk's office to find out when the next report from the City will be ready.

In the meantime, I'll be looking into how other municipalities with free dumping stations are doing it, and try and start a dialog with both the City of Cambridge and the Region of Waterloo since if we ultimately end up at the treatment plants it will fall under Regional jurisdiction.

If you would like to watch my presentation, here is the YouTube link to the meeting. I've set it to start just before my presentation as the meeting was over six hours long.

A story and video also came out last night with CTV News Kitchener.

I'll be sure to keep everyone updated as this continues to unfold.

Sincerely,

Shane