LANDFILL CLOSURE

Community Outraged at SCRD Decision

On March 11,2010, the Sunshine Coast Regional District Board shocked the public by voting to close the Pender Harbour Landfill, replacing it with a Transfer Station.
Residents of Area A (Pender Harbour and Egmont) had been told told that the SCRD would hold a referendum or telephone survey so their voice would be the deciding factor in their landfill’s future.
The majority of residents of Area A, and the voice of our Regional Director, Eric Graham, were ignored in this decision.
The SCRD first offered us a referendum if we paid for it at an unprecedentedly high pricetag, to allow us to pay for the entire operating cost of our landfill. Then they backed out of it to order our landfill closed.
Most of the community is outraged at this blatant disregard of democratic process: Director Graham’s resignation has been demanded by former Regional Director John Rees and others. Formal complaints have been made to the SCRD Chair, Donna Shugar, and Municipal Affairs.
The community has declared war on the SCRD, and the war is to save our landfill, our tax dollars and our self-respect as a comminity.