Toxic neighbour

Living next to the Jones

Behind Sue Lane’s small home in her small back yard there sit an assortment of neat white lawn furniture‚ a few hanging pots with bright pink flowers‚ and‚ behind a fence of sheet metal‚ several hundred rusting cars piled in the corner of an auto wrecking yard.

“It’s hell on earth living here‚” said Lane‚ a 70–year–old resident of Scarborough‚ an east–end Toronto borough. Lane’s house sits on Lucy Avenue‚ directly behind the Jones Auto Wreckers. Lane and her neighbours are fed up with the auto yard‚ which they say crushes cars and creates incredible noise. “You think this is a nice quiet street‚ and then all hell breaks loose. I’ve had stuff fall off walls. I’ve had to leave and sit in a parking lot for an hour just to get my nerves cooled down.”

And it’s more than just noise‚ she says. “I smell gasoline all the time‚ the fumes are terrible‚ especially when they’re out there wrecking. You have to close all the windows up because it gives you a headache.”

“When they crush the cars down‚ all the antifreeze and all the oil goes into the ground‚ it seeps over here‚ we can’t even plant a garden out the back‚” complains 47 year old Barry Nicholson. “I can’t see how they get away with this‚ crushing cars and contaminating the land.”

Scarborough by–laws prohibit auto wreckers and junk yards in residential areas—so how do they “get away with it”?

“This place has been here since 1937‚ and there was not one house built adjacent to the property then‚” says Paul Monaghan‚ who has owned the yard since 1989. And because the yard was built long before any by–laws were put in place‚ it has a “legal non–conforming status” – in other words‚ it is legally exempt from the bylaws.

Monaghan says that the Lucy Avenue residents have a lot of misconceptions about his yard. He says he does not accept cars that haven’t been drained of all fluids first‚ so he doesn’t know why the residents say they smell gas. And he says he has never used a car crusher (but he says he does compress the roofs of the cars to conform to Ministry of Transportation guidelines when they ship the cars out of the yard).

In response to the many complaints‚ the Municipal Licensing and Standards office at the City of Toronto reassessed the yard. According to their report‚ dated June 18‚ 2006‚ the yard is in compliance with all applicable regulations and there is no reason to close it. Toronto Public Health investigated the site twice (the last time in October 2005) and did not find any evidence of soil contamination or gas odors either time. The fire department also says that they have never found any code violations. The Ministry of the Environment did detect violations of environmental legislation in 2004 – but a May 2006 inspection “confirmed compliance with all of the regulations and applicable legislation for the facility‚” says Sandra Thomas of the MOE.

To Monaghan’s credit‚ Jones Auto Wreckers is a member of the Ontario Automotive Recycling Association‚ which means they are among the better auto recyclers in Ontario. “We work with the provincial association members because they agree to abide by a certain code of ethics‚ so we can ensure that they are held more accountable than just anybody…we work with really proactive auto recyclers who want to turn around and really change the negative perception that is associated with their industry‚” says Ersilia Serafini‚ executive director of Clean Air Foundation. The CAF works with OARA members who volunteer to dismantle vehicles in an environmentally sustainable way. Jones Auto Wreckers volunteers for CAF’s Car Heaven program‚ through which they remove all fluids‚ mercury–containing switches and tires before shipping the cars out‚ to prevent toxics from getting into the environment (all completely voluntary measures).

“A lot of the residents have a ‘not in my back yard’ syndrome – but we have to start realizing that we can’t produce things and expect them to go away when we’re finished with them‚” says Monaghan. “And in order to recycle we can’t necessarily do it out of province or far away.”

But residents of Lucy Avenue aren’t impressed by the yard’s recycling merits – they say the yard is a threat to their own environment. And despite what the MOE or Public Health say‚ Lucy residents all swear up and down that they smell gas fumes all the time‚ the noise is unbearable‚ and that in spring melted snow mixed with gasoline from the yard leaks onto their property (the MOE has never tested the soil on any of their properties – residents have to hire their own environmental consultant to prove it).

“And there’s going to be a fire – we just don’t know when it’s going to happen‚” says Nicholson.

He has reason to worry. A massive fire erupted in Toronto’s west end on August 24th this year when stacks of car batteries‚ tires and propane tanks went up in flames in the GB Scrap Metal Ltd yard‚ spewing out a black cloud that‚ according to the MOE‚ contained extremely toxic gases‚ such as benzene (a known human carcinogen).

There are a number of legal measures that the residents can take to remove the auto yard – but it’s a working class neighbourhood‚ they don’t have the legal expertise‚ the money or the time to do this on their own. They had hoped that their city councilor of 21 years‚ Gerry Altobello would help them. Altobello held two meetings with the Lucy residents about the yard in May this year – and then resigned his post to take a position as a Justice of the Peace in June‚ extinguishing any hope the Lucy residents had that he would help them.

Lucy residents were even more upset when they discovered that a “Jones Auto Recyclers” had made a $250 contribution to Altobello’s 2003 election campaign.

Monaghan says that he did not make the contribution‚ it was made by his father (who is not involved in the business of running the yard)‚ and says he is no fan of Altobello’s.

“I wasn’t even given the courtesy of being told that there was a meeting [back in May]‚ I found out because a flyer came across my desk. Altobello did not let me know‚ nor did his office – I had to phone him‚” he says. “And at the meeting he bashed me as well.”

When reached for comment‚ Altobello said that in his new capacity as a Justice of the Peace he is prohibited from speaking to reporters entirely‚ and refused to be interviewed by Corporate Knights because he could lose his job.

Nobody at the Court of Justice or any other judicial organization was able to support Altobello’s statement. “Generally speaking there is nothing precluding them [from speaking to the media‚ unless there is some legal statute that prevents them or some obligation that prevents them‚” such as a publication ban on a certain case‚ says Laurie Newton from the office of the Chief Justice of Ontario.

In any case‚ for the time being‚ Jones Auto Wrecker isn’t going anywhere. “I don’t think in this day and age that it’s a fit thing for it to be there‚” says Lane.