Petition to Pause the Closure of the Métis-sur-Mer Green Waste Site
Overview:
The Municipality of Métis-sur-Mer has announced that the local "green waste" site located on Station Road will permanently close on August 1, 2026.
Please sign below to support a request that the town council postpone the planned closure of the site in order to (i) protect any transitional or pre-existing ('grandfathered') rights the municipality may currently enjoy while the matter is examined, (ii) conduct a transparent financial and legal review of the issues, (iii) consult permanent and seasonal residents, (iv) disclose key information and documents related to the decision, and (v) evaluate options for maintaining a compliant local service of great benefit to many in the community.
Details:
The principal explanation given for the closure appears to be that continued operation of the site is no longer legally permitted. References have also been made to reducing municipal costs.
We respectfully ask the Municipality to pause the closure while the site’s legal status, available compliance options and full economic consequences are examined through a transparent public process.
The site has operated for many decades, including before December 31, 2020, apparently without any substantial change to its principal use. This suggests that article 359 of Quebec’s Règlement sur l’encadrement d’activités en fonction de leur impact sur l’environnement (REAFIE), or another transitional provision, may allow the existing activity to continue.
We do not claim that the site’s legal status has been conclusively established. However, if its longstanding and continuous operation provides the Municipality with any transitional protection or pre-existing right, closing the site prematurely could place that status at risk. It is therefore critical that the closure scheduled for August 1 be stayed until this issue has been fully examined.
Even if the current operation cannot continue unchanged, Quebec’s environmental framework - namely Article 280 of the REAFIE - appears to provide other pathways through which a modified and compliant local service could be maintained at reasonable cost. Permanent closure should not proceed before those alternatives have been properly evaluated.
Closing the site may reduce certain direct municipal expenses, but it would transfer substantially greater costs to many residents and property owners.
This is particularly serious for properties maintained by landscaping contractors. Materials transported by contractors to the regional ecocentre will be subject to commercial disposal fees, even when they originate from a residential property. Residents will therefore likely face substantial additional charges for disposal, transportation, employee time, vehicle use, fuel and/or waiting times at the Mont-Joli ecocentre.
Several property owners have already been quoted annual cost increases reaching into the thousands of dollars. Multiplied across the number of affected properties, the closure could impose incremental costs on tax payers amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for the foreseeable future (millions of dollars over the years).
Before transferring costs of this magnitude to taxpayers, the Municipality should publicly compare:
- the projected municipal savings resulting from closure;
- the costs of bringing the site or a modified service into compliance (if necessary); and
- the projected costs imposed on residents and property owners.
The review should also consider possible increases in composte (brown) bin collection costs likely to result from increased volumes and the risk of costs associated with a ressurgence in unauthorized dumping along rural roads, in wooded areas, on private land and in the rangs.
We therefore request that the Municipality:
- Stay the closure scheduled for August 1, 2026 until the site’s legal status, any applicable transitional protection and reasonable compliance options have been fully examined and clarified.
- Hold a public consultation during August, when the greatest number of permanent and seasonal residents will have a meaningful opportunity to participate.
- Conduct and publish a cost-benefit analysis comparing:
- the projected savings resulting from closure;
- the costs of bringing the site or a modified local service into compliance;
- the projected costs transferred to residents and property owners;
- any additional regional collection or processing costs projected; and
- the potential costs associated with increased unauthorized dumping and cleanup.
- Confirm whether any government authority has directed the Municipality to close the site and, if so:
- identify the authority;
- identify the legal basis;
- disclose the required closure date; and
- release the relevant notice, order, inspection report or other written direction.
- If no government authority has ordered the closure, confirm whether the decision is based on the Municipality’s own interpretation of existing legislation or regulations, and release the legal, environmental, operational and financial analysis supporting that interpretation.
- Examine and publicly report on the possible application of article 359 of the REAFIE, including whether the site’s operation before December 31, 2020, and its continued operation without substantial change, provide any transitional protection.
- Examine all other available regulatory pathways through which a compliant local green waste service could continue rather than proceeding directly to permanent closure, including in keeping with article 280 of the REAFIE which exempts the establishment and operation of a qualifying green waste site from ministerial authorization when certain achievable conditions are met.
- Disclose the relevant documents through a transparent process, including communications with government authorities, notices of non-compliance, inspection reports, legal or regulatory analyses, cost estimates and records of the alternatives considered.