As Onni deals with the problems identified in an environmental consultant’s report regarding its fill practices on Airport Way, the city will be sampling the groundwater under the site.
Pitt Meadows council agreed Tuesday to hire an environmental consultant to test the water at 19265 Airport Way, at the expense of the developer.
Fill dumped at the proposed 19-acre site, part of the light industrial development known as Golden Ears Business Park, has been trucked from 300 sites. Among the fill materials is asphalt.
“While Dillon [the consultant] agrees that all immediate erosion and settlement control concerns have been addressed reasonably in the developer’s correspondence, it is Dillon’s opinion that in order to fully understand if the fill has introduced any groundwater contaminants to the region, a quantitative testing program would be required,” said a staff report.
At an April 12 special meeting, council suspended the developer’s fill permit for the site until all outstanding environmental recommendations of the consultant had been met.
Problems included collapsed and improperly installed silt fences, which resulted in material being washed into Katzie Slough.
Chris Evans of Onni Group appeared before council on Tuesday and said the company accepts the recommendations of the consultant’s report. Evans said the developer has worked with city staff and Onni’s consultant team to develop new standards and procedures that strengthen it approach and adherence to the bylaw.
“I would like to certainly apologize for having to be here in the first place, but telling you that we are going to put our best foot forward to ensure the issues that have been identified in the Dillon report certainly don’t happen again.”
City hall estimates the water sampling work will take five weeks, from awarding the contract to creating a draft report. The suspension of the fill permit may be lifted before that time, if the recommended work is completed.
Mayor John Becker said the use of asphalt fill has caused concern for the contamination of groundwater.
“Hopefully we will find that the water is fine,” he added.
Becker noted that there does appear to be work under way at the site, but it is the construction of a settling pond, as required by the environmental consultant.