Concerned Kingston residents question ‘contaminated’ snow dumping

Some concerned residents are asking questions about how a Kingston property owner is getting rid of his snow.

What makes it more troubling they say — it’s contaminated snow and it’s going to leak into the lake and in turn, into the water supply.

The parking lot at the former Marine Museum property on Kingston’s waterfront was plowed, and the snow was pushed to the pier further up on Lower Union Street. Willy Harpell is a concerned resident.

“It was not only on the water edge, but actually, in the water on the ice. When the melt comes, you know what’s going to happen, the snow’s going to melt and it’s going to cause more contamination going into the waterway.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was not only on the water edge, but actually, in the water on the ice. When the melt comes, you know what's going to happen, the snow's going to melt and it's going to cause more contamination going into the waterway."

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Developer Jay Patry doesn’t believe there’s an environmental issue. He says they brought in three inches worth of clean fill to spread over all of this area, so if there was any being picked up by the snow plows, it’s all clean.

A picture showing the original snow dumping was sent to CKWS TV, and Patry doesn’t argue that.

“We’ve done our best to make sure the snow is piled away from the site. We asked our contractor to pile it in the middle of right here. They did put a small pile here [near the water’s edge]. There was some miscommunication. For the past 20 or 30 years when the city plowed the snow, in the past, they put it all against the fence.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've done our best to make sure the snow is piled away from the site. We asked our contractor to pile it in the middle of right here. They did put a small pile here [near the water's edge]. There was some miscommunication. For the past 20 or 30 years when the city plowed the snow, in the past, they put it all against the fence."

Kingston officials say they’ve received a couple of formal complaints about the dumping. They’ve since spoken to Patry, and snow will be kept away from the water’s edge.