By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
Worried about the Dresden landfill?
Mark Sept. 21 on your calendar.
That’s the date York1 Environmental Waste Solutions will face off against the Municipality of Chatham-Kent in a Chatham courtroom.
A full day has been scheduled for the hearing where the issue will be “argued on its merits,” according to Ontario Superior Court Justice Jasminka Kalajdzic.
The hearing will take place 10 months after the company launched legal action against Chatham-Kent’s position that the GTA-based business must adhere to the municipality’s planning and zoning requirements.
York1 is seeking to expand a landfill just north of Dresden. The company is saying it doesn’t have to follow C-K’s requirements and should be allowed to move forward with its plans, which includes building a regenerative recycling facility, expanding the size of the landfill proper, and constructing a ponding system for soil washing.
The municipality’s argument that it does have jurisdiction over planning is based on a letter stating as such from the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks issued last year.
Legal counsel for the two parties made a brief appearance via videoconference March 17, with 32 people attending.
The battle against the York1 project at 29831 Irish School Rd. began in February 2024, when it was discovered by the public the company was planning a massive expansion at the derelict dumpsite only a kilometre north of the community.
In 2024, Ontario’s former Minister of the Environment decreed that a full Environmental Assessment was warranted, but that was reversed by the Ford government in June 2025.
