‘It’s like Groundhog Day’: City probes new dumping complaints at Waterdown Garden Supplies

The city and province are probing new soil dumping complaints at the site of a Mob-linked mountain of polluted dirt in Flamborough.

But Gary McHale, a director with corporate landowner Waterdown Garden Supplies, said the Highway 5 site is simply being used by a company to screen clean topsoil" for delivery to customers. He argued the resumption of business on the property is necessary to raise cash for any future cleanup of contaminated fill.

So far, no one has cleaned up the 24,000 truckloads of potentially polluted construction fill that has loomed above the Troy property since 2019 - despite provincial orders, environmental charges and unproven lawsuits alleging a Mob-linked illegal dumping scheme.

Residents are worried the nightmare is beginning again, said neighbour Jim Whelan.

It's like Groundhog Day. Somebody's in there dumping again," said Whelan, who has passed on several neighbour complaints to the province and bylaw. That's a nightmare we don't want to relive, you know? It's bad enough seeing those piles over there and not knowing if they'll ever disappear."

The province has so far issued cleanup orders and environmental charges against both the landowner and individuals linked to alleged soil dumper Havana Group Supplies in relation to the huge piles of fill dumped in 2018 and 2019.

A Spectator probe of alleged Havana soil dumping previously revealed the company was headed by convicted fraudster Steve Sardinha and counted slain Mob boss Pat Musitano as a silent partner.

Unlike three years ago, there are no lineups of dump trucks linked to Havana lined up daily outside the Troy site.

But the city confirmed to The Spectator an ongoing investigation" by bylaw in response to new dumping allegations at the property. A city inspector witnessed a truck dumping what appeared to be dirt" July 22 and staff are checking the site daily.

The province has also noted a few small piles" of newly deposited soil, said Gary Wheeler, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.

The material was not smelly and showed no visual signs of contamination," but Wheeler said the added soil violates an existing provincial order for the property and the ministry would follow up to ensure the material is removed.

In a phone interview, McHale argued any recently piled soil is clean and destined to be quickly delivered to customers by an unidentified company that is paying to use the land. He pledged in an interview to do an inspection" soon.

All (the company) is doing is screening it and shipping it out," he said.

While Waterdown Garden Supplies remains the landowner of the Troy site, McHale has said his company was evicted in 2018 via a court order sought by a mortgage holder. He said that means he has been unable to legally access the land since that time, let alone prevent dumping or contemplate any cleanup.

McHale is suing principals with Havana and, separately, the City of Hamilton in a $75-million lawsuit alleging conspiracy in a Mob-linked dumping scheme. The city announced late last year a third-party probe it commissioned found no evidence" to support the conspiracy allegations, but the full report has not been made public.

Regardless, McHale said if the law eventually forces Waterdown Garden Supplies to participate in a cleanup, the company will need money to do so - hence the move to find tenants. When asked if he considered how neighbours would react to seeing trucks entering the polluted property again, McHale said there's nothing I can do about that."

He did pledge, however, that neighbours would not see lineups of trucks on the road waiting to enter the property as they did in 2019. That's definitely not going to be happening. I'm not Havana."

Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com