This orginally ran in the Cambridge Times Dec 2008.. comments invited below.

A local homeowner who lives in a neighbourhood affected by toxic contamination around an aerospace company, threatens to shut off a groundwater filtering system if she does not get “rent” to house it on her property.
Joyce Hipel, who lives in a house built by her late husband on Grand Valley Drive more than 50 years ago, says she wants monthly compensation from Northstar Aerospace to keep a shed on her property.

“And if I don’t get it,” said Hipel, “the (system) gets turned off.”

Inside the shed in her backyard is a soil vapour extraction (SVE) system, which filters the ground of trichloroethylene (TCE), a noxious chemical that was discovered spreading underground after the aerospace company had an environmental assessment done on its Bishop Street site.

The SVE system – which was installed in 2005 as part of Northstar’s ongoing cleanup efforts – on Hipel’s property is connected through an underground network to two other houses.

“These systems are working well, and if you shut them off, the levels will go back up,” said Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, associate medical officer of health with Waterloo Region Public Health. “Northstar is working to take (the TCE) out, but that will take several years.”

TCE, which was commonly used by companies as a degreaser for metal parts, evaporates quickly, escaping into the ground and into houses – often through cracks in foundations. Information regarding the surrounding groundwater’s condition was made public in 2005, when air inside people’s houses was found to also contain TCE. More than 400 homes were affected, with some residents being temporarily evacuated until air levels of the contaminant were reduced.

“All the homes that need remediation need to have it,” said Wang, who noted that currently levels inside all affected homes have been reduced.

Regular correspondence continues among the public health department with Northstar and Ministry of the Environment to ensure cleanup efforts are going forward, noted Wang.

Also involved in the multi-million dollar cleanup effort is GE Canada, after a second source of contamination was discovered underground at Rozell, a sheet metal company also found on Bishop Street.

Despite the potential of increased contaminant air levels, Hipel is adamant that she will switch off the SVE if she does not receive rent for the shed.

“If I had to do it over again, it wouldn’t be there,” Hipel said.

But Northstar argues that it already provides money to certain homeowners whose utility bills are impacted by the constant use of something like an SVE system. There are 17 SVEs installed within the contaminated area.

Northstar spokesperson Judy Scott-Walpole, who noted that Hipel signed a contract to have the shed on her property, said a base figure was calculated before installation of the SVE to determine the equipment’s usage cost.

“A 40 per cent buffer was added to this base cost,” said Scott-Walpole via e-mail, “to cover any future hydro increases as well as money for the homeowner to use at their discretion. The base cost of the hydro used is reviewed annually to ensure that all shed-owners remain compensated over and above their shed hydro bills.”

Hipel receives $191.17 every two months from Northstar, noted Scott-Walpole.

Phil Shewen, an environmental officer who works out of the Environment Ministry’s Guelph office, says it is the ministry’s role to ensure cleanup efforts are being made to reduce indoor air contamination levels. If an SVE system were to “become inoperative for any reason” it would be the involved companies’ responsibility to propose a solution.

“Should a homeowner choose to disconnect a remedial system, by their own volition, they would be jeopardizing the indoor air quality in their home, and possibly other homes, and jeopardizing the efforts of the company to fix the problem,” said Shewen.

Hipel says that she feels she was pressured into agreeing to have the SVE installed on her property. In addition to seeking rent from Northstar, Hipel wants her property value reassessed because she does not want to see her taxes go up. Her property is going to be hard to sell, she says, because of the SVE system and the regular monitoring of it that is conducted. She says she does not think it is fair for her to pay property taxes on the land where the shed sits, which is why she is seeking the rent.

“We didn’t ask for this,” said Hipel’s son, Tracy Hipel.

He argues that a consultant’s report, which was commissioned by the City of Cambridge, has proved “useless” in trying to get his mother’s property value reassessed.

“People don’t even know this exists,” he charged.

Her latest assessment document states Hipel’s property value has increased by $43,000 within three years, 2005 to 2008. For the 2009 property tax year, her phased-in assessment has changed by 5.87 per cent.

Hipel has filed a request for reconsideration with the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), but she says she anticipates she will have to file a formal appeal.

The nearly 100-page consultant’s report advises that property values may be impacted because of the cleanup requirements and classifies a house like Hipel’s as one that may be most prone to the impact.

valcoreport1

The report states: “…the SVE system and its location of the piping must be considered. This unit is an underground ventilation system with plastic piping that is approximately four to six feet from the residence and 12 to 18 inches deep that eventually connects to a rear garden shed that houses the filtration system. This can impede any contemplation of any addition or installation of underground sprinkler systems or swimming pools.”

The author of the consultant’s report could not comment about the report’s findings.

Don Smith, City of Cambridge chief administrative officer, told the Times, “I don’t think it’s all that complicated…To say you can’t have a sprinkler or a pool because of the SVE (system), I don’t think is really accurate.”

Engineers would have to be consulted, he said.

“We commissioned the report in an effort to assist people in the neighbourhood,” Smith said. Utilizing the consultant’s report when asking MPAC for reassessment or an appeal is a good idea, he added. Smith says he “certainly would do the same thing” if he were in Hipel’s situation.

He also said a copy of the consultant’s report, which is dated December 2006, was passed along to MPAC for consideration.

Jon Hebden, an MPAC municipal relations representative, noted that when a property’s value assessment increases, it does not always mean taxes will go up. The assessment also counts on municipally-set rates, which have not yet been finalized for 2009 by the city. He said all assessments are based on the sales of similar houses in a neighbourhood that surrounds a particular house. There are more than 200 factors considered for assessments, he added, with nearly 85 per cent of a property’s value based on aspects including location and neighbourhood popularity.

“As far as a consultant’s report goes, I don’t think I’ve seen one personally,” said Hebden.

Taking the required steps, which includes filing a request for reconsideration, toward an assessment appeal is something any homeowner can do, noted Hebden. He said a property that is within an area deemed contaminated would be assessed based on properties sold in similar situations.

“Like I say, we’re based on sales,” he said.

Tracy Hipel

Cambridge ON

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