REGINA - Regina City Hall is reacting to news that the R.M. of Edenwold has turned down an application for the facility that would have processed Regina’s food and yard waste.
That was the outcome of a Special Council Meeting held on Monday evening, Dec. 4. The R.M. council unanimously denied the discretionary use application by EverGen for a Commercial Compost Facility, which was to be located in the Pilot Butte area. Evergen was the company contracted by the City of Regina to deal with the compost collected from the City’s Green Bin program which was launched this year.
Three reasons were cited for the denial, according to the R.M.:
1) The proposed location for the compost facility was in close proximity to domestic water wells and there is a lack of support or consent for the facility from property owners near the proposed location, which conflicts with the site suitability report previously approved by the Ministry of Environment;
2) there was inaccurate information on the permit application from the applicant; and
3) the development was inconsistent with section 6.13 of the Statements of Provincial Interests regarding source water protection.
At City Hall in Regina Tuesday afternoon, Deputy City Manager of City Operations Kurtis Doney met reporters and issued the following statement:
“The City of Regina is aware of the RM of Edenwold’s decision to deny EverGen’s discretionary use application. The city’s contract with EverGen includes site selection, construction, operations of an organic processing facility. Evergen currently is operating a temporary processing facility at the city of Regina landfill. During this interim period, food and yard waste is being composted, not landfilled, at the city of Regina landfill. The city of Regina will continue to support EverGen and its work to secure a new permanent location for their organic processing facility.”
The city of Regina had rolled out their city wide green bin program at the start of September and had contracted with EverGen to process the food and yard waste that was collected. But the proposed processing facility has run into a host of opposition since the announcement was made.
In August, a town hall meeting had filled the Fire Hall in Emerald Park regarding the proposed facility. Officials with the R.M. received 38 written submissions and a petition of 574 signatures, according to the news report at the time, as well as plenty of verbal opposition expressed from those speaking at the event.
Complaints raised about the project have included water concerns as well as whether odour from the proposed facility might impact the nearby Pilot Butte community.
As for what is next for Regina now that the EverGen application has been turned down by the RM, Doney told reporters that the temporary site at the landfill is currently processing the food and yard waste into compost, and that site will be available until a new permanent site is up and running. Doney said they will “continue to work with landfill operations to ensure we can process material.”
As for the timetable for the new facility, the expectation is that it will take more time for EverGen to get a permanent site up and running. Instead of the spring, the city now is looking at the fall of 2024.
“The city of Regina will continue to work with Evergen,” said Doney. “They have been looking at different locations in case this permit was denied. And so they’ll continue to look at locations and will work with them to see what is the best location for their operations.”
Doney also said the city doesn’t have any concerns that Evergen will not be able to find another location for the facility. As for the R.M. of Edenwold, Doney said the City respects and supports their decision.
Provincial reaction
Earlier in the day, Environment Minister Christine Tell, who represents the Pilot Butte and Emerald Park area in the legislature, was asked by reporters about the RM decision and whether there was any role for the province to step in and help facilitate the situation.
Tell responded this composing initiative was “strictly between the RM of Edenwold and the City of Regina.” She said the Ministry of Environment would get involved at some point in time in the process.
“However, we haven’t even really seen a workplan, a proposal, from the proponents of this composting facility,” said Tell. The province’s involvement to this point has been very marginal, she said, with the site assessment at the beginning, but the indication is the more detailed environmental analysis has not been done yet because the province had not yet received a proposal.
Tell said the RM of Edenwold was “well within its authority, and its rights to say no , as I understand it. And how the City of Regina is going to handle it is up to the City of Regina.”
