Rent reduced for Riders, early budget items approved by Regina Council
3h ago
Council retroactively slashed $1.33 million in rent owed by the Roughriders.
The City of Regina still hopes to have a new composting site ready in 2024.
On Monday, the Rural Municipality of Edenwold rejected the application proposed by EverGen to build a commercial composting facility for Regina. The facility would have been built near Pilot Butte.
The discretionary use application was voted down unanimously during a special council meeting.
On Tuesday, the City of Regina said it respected the RM’s decision and will support EverGen in its efforts to find a new location.
Kurtis Doney, Regina’s deputy city manager of city operations, told reporters that finding a new site would be EverGen’s responsibility.
Doney said food and yard waste will continue being composted by EverGen at Regina’s landfill as a temporary measure.
When asked, Doney didn’t say whether or not the temporary site could manage composting indefinitely. However, he did say the city doesn’t expect the temporary site to be operating for years.
“We’ll continue to work with landfill operations to ensure we can process material. It’s important that EverGen finds the permanent site and moves to that site in 2024,” he said.
As of Tuesday, the city said it was not aware of any locations proposed by EverGen.
RM of Edenwold Reeve Al Trainor spoke to media about the decision to vote down the proposed composting site. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)
RM of Edenwold Reeve Al Trainor said EverGen’s application was rejected due to the proposed site’s proximity to domestic water wells as well as a lack of support and/or consent from the property owners near the site.
“The RM is open for business and we would be willing to look at and deal with, through the appropriate measures, should EverGen be looking for another location within our RM for their facility,” Trainor said Tuesday.
Another reason that Trainor gave for the rejection was alleged “inaccurate information” contained within the application.
When asked what that was, Trainor said he was unable to go over the specifics of the information without a document with him.
Many residents of the RM raised concerns about the proposed site’s potential smell and possibility of attracting pests, even though EverGen was adamant in saying that wouldn’t be the case.
Doney was asked if there might be similar difficulties and concerns raised by other areas should a new site be proposed there.
“Whenever you are locating an organic processing facility, it’s important to ensure you are following Ministry of Environment regulations and the authority in the area,” Doney said. “We do not have any concerns that we’d be (unable) to find a site that is applicable for the organic processing facility.”
Doney also said communities should be consulted about the pros and cons of having a composting site nearby.
According to Doney, the city will continue to strive for its goal of diverting 65 per cent of Regina’s food and yard waste from the landfill.
“It’s also very important that communities across Saskatchewan work towards waste diversion so we’ll continue to promote that — ensuring that we can extend the life of our landfill,” Doney said.
980 CJME reached out to EverGen for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.