A former demolition waste dump in Delta is getting a new life.
City council recently gave the thumbs-up for a development variance permit for the owner of a site in the 9300-block of River Road to build a 211,701-square-foot multi-unit industrial building, located within the former Alpha Landfill.
Comprising three portions, the development will occur on the middle portion of the 15-acre (6.1 hectare) site, south of River Road and north of the railway tracks. The new complex will comprise 16 units, each having an approximate floor area of 13,330-square-feet.
A report to council notes the project supports the redevelopment of old landfill sites, consistent with Delta’s Saving Our Industrial Lands (SOIL) initiative. The SOIL initiative was developed to promote the closure of old landfills, facilitating their redevelopment and spurring economic revitalization of the surrounding area.
In 2018, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy confirmed that all required remediation works for the River Road parcels had been carried out. The work included a requirement to install a geomembrane cover system over the contaminated soil to minimize infiltration of precipitation and stormwater.
Alpha Manufacturing operated the former landfill until 1995, when its permit was revoked.
Alpha’s site was one of eight the province permitted to operate on River Road beginning in the mid-1980s.
Several Delta councils have expressed opposition to the dump sites being allowed to operate, conveying concerns including the operations being in close proximity to the Fraser River and Burns Bog.