ATHABASCA – A couple of local farm families will have to wait a month before they get the answer to a question that’s been worrying them since late December 2022; is the new scrapyard next door going to get approved or not?
At the July 27 Athabasca County council meeting, a public hearing on whether an 80-acre lot about eight kilometres south of Breynat should be rezoned from the current agriculture district to the proposed light-industrial district. While councillors had originally planned to discuss the hearing and vote on the bylaw that day, after the meeting pushed past the nine-hour mark the topic was tabled until Aug. 31.
“We felt that it was best to table the topic and take the time to reflect and engage in a thorough discussion when everyone is rested and ready,” said reeve Brian Hall in a July 28 interview.
On one side of the issue are the farmers who say that they were suddenly inundated with loud industrial noises and concerns about waste-water runoff after piles of scrap suddenly appeared over the winter. On the other side is W.I.L Demolition and Salvage, a Saskatchewan-based recycling company, that wants to use the lot to reduce driver fatigue on trips between Fort McMurray and Edmonton.
“As a farmer and neighbour, I have many issues with this rezoning,” said Allan Jenkins, who owns land south and southeast of the proposed zoning change.
In a letter he submitted to council, the family patriarch — Allan and his wife Lorraine had 10 kids, many of whom wrote letters, spoke during the proceedings, or did both — listed seven problems with the proposed rezoning, including environmental concerns, noise and road-use issues, and procedural issues. When the scrap-sorting site started, part of the Jenkins’ land had been mistakenly used for storage, uprooting trees and destroying part of a back trail that the family used.
“That was a space that we had set aside, our whole family loves that trail and clump of trees back there,” said Jenkins. “To go back there one day and find those piles of scrap metal and an excavator working, it’s really ruined something near and dear to us.”
Walter Strutynski, who owns W.I.L construction, acknowledged his company's mistakes, apologizing for intruding on the Jenkins’ lot. Strutynski also said that the issue with zoning was a simple misunderstanding; according to him, back in Saskatchewan a scrap sorting yard would be an allowed use of agriculturally zoned land.
“The public hearing was important, it gave the community an avenue to speak which is important,” said Strutynski in a July 28 interview. “If (the community) feels that we can be upheld to what we would need to do to reduce any impact on the surrounding area, hopefully they would approve it.”
While the Jenkins’ family has positioned themselves against the re-zoning permit, they’re adamant that they’re not anti-development and understand the need for projects like this one. But they say it needs to be done responsibly, which they believe hasn’t happened.
“These piles are 15 feet away from our crop land, so that’s where all the worry about contamination comes from,” said Kaeli Jenkins during the public hearing. “The biggest pile of scrap is 15 feet away from where we’re planting our seeds. We don’t have a huge problem with oil and gas; if anything we want it to grow, otherwise my husband would lose his job. We just want it to be put in responsible areas.”
