Oakwood farm owner looking to put 13-year-old contaminated soil event behind her

Cindy Brigden is hoping she will soon be experiencing a clean start – and in more ways than one.

Thirteen years ago, Brigden allowed GFL (“Green For Life”), a waste management company, to bring in thousands of tonnes of remediated fill to her 99-acre farm at 513 Taylor’s Road near Oakwood.

That’s because when she and her late husband bought the horse farm in 2005, it came with an active gravel pit with only a few years left of activity, she says. Once the activity was done, she realized the rocky soil condition, “where only weeds could grow, was not suitable for horse pasture,” Brigden tells Kawartha Lakes Weekly.

The landowner was told a solution would be to have a friend of a friend, who was familiar with dealing with clean fill companies, to bring in Table 2 soil and then add six inches of topsoil and proper seeding. (Table 2 soil would allow for the planting of non‑edible trees, for example, but not a vegetable garden.) Brigden was told there were no permits needed in Kawartha Lakes for this kind of project, and so they got started right away.

“There was a written agreement made with B&B Smith Construction that it would all be taken care of and I wouldn’t have to worry,” she says. Brigden said she did not receive money from GFL for taking the soil for the 25-acre gravel pit, or from the intermediary who helped her set it up.

But worry she should have, as the high level of activity on her farm, with dozens of trucks visiting her property daily for weeks on end sparked complaints from neighbours. They accused her of contaminating her own land. The Ministry of the Environment eventually got involved and found elevated metals and hydrocarbons in their second round of tests on the new soil.

Hauling was halted, and the matter led council to adopt a new site‑alteration and fill bylaw under then-Mayor Ric McGee.

“To this day, I have no understanding of how this could happen,” Brigden says, “but have since learned of occurrences elsewhere. I wish I had known of any risk.”

When Brigden was forced to halt the operation in 2012 because of the contaminated soil, GFL promised they would fix everything. But it’s been a long journey.

Today, scores of trucks are once again heading for the same farm, with loads of gravel mix being dumped in the same area – a capping project required by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, to make things right.

This time around the work is being done by GIP (“Green Infrastructure Partners”), a construction and infrastructure company that was originally created by GFL in 2022.

And Brigden is at the final step to be in compliance with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment’s Certificate of Property Use (CPU) that was issued after the 2012 soil debacle. (Kawartha Lakes Weekly is in possession of the 14-page document and reviewed it.)

A CPU is an official legal document under Ontario’s Environmental Protection Act that records how a contaminated property may be used and sets binding limits and controls to protect people and the environment. It has taken more than a decade to get to this point, though, with Ministry visits on a regular basis. (During the recent interview with Brigden, Ministry representatives arrived again to check on the progress.)

Neighbour Steve Karpazis, who agitated for the project to be stopped in 2012, contacted Kawartha Lakes Weekly this week, wondering if Brigden had a permit to be doing the work today.

But Aaron Sloan, manager of municipal law enforcement and licensing, says this is a provincial matter now, although “staff have attended the site to observe the work taking place.”

“However, the Province is providing oversight and has issued a Certificate of Property Use to address the required risk management measures.”

Sloan says it’s the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks that regulates pits and quarries, “including their rehabilitation.”

“In this case, the (Ministry) has approved a site-containment project that permits the capping of the former pit. The material being imported to the site is expected to meet the standards outlined in their approval for capping.”

For Brigden, she can see light at the end of the tunnel now.

“It has been an emotional 13-year-battle with testing, monitoring, and environmental risk assessments.”

She may one day sell the farm but notes she also loves the property.

“My…hope is that we can now look forward to happier times.”