Town of Bowden council directed administration to look for a better location for a compost bin in the southernmost portion of town as a result of complaints and a lack of a dump site for residents at that end of town.
The motion was made at council's August 8 meeting.
Earl Wilson, who lives in the south end of town near the golf course, told council that one of the sites in town — in an alley near his property — is not a suitable site, as it provides an unobstructed view onto his property.
The town is currently looking at closing the site down on Westview Drive and moving it further to the southeast. The site is situated in a poorly drained area near a playground and the odour from it isn't good for the children who use the park.
“I wasn't particularly wanting a compost bin near my property. Tonight I want to make it clear to council: I don't want an ugly or even a pretty compost bin near my property,” Wilson said.
He added that as long as the bins are behind a garage or fence, he considers that OK, because it's out of sight to the property owner.
“We want to be more than reasonable,” Mayor Robb Stuart told him, adding that all compost locations are first vetted through property owners.
“We pick the location and then check with the residents to make sure they're OK with that. Any concern that does come up from the public, we're trying to address it and move ahead on it. You don't want it in your backyard, I don't want it in my backyard, but somebody has to have it fairly close and we're trying to make it as unobtrusive as possible,” he said.
The town makes the bins available for people to dump their grass clippings in. They may also drop tree branches off next to the bins and town staff will pick them up on a regular basis. Many of the sites — which are made of wood — are either in disrepair or gone altogether as they are emptied by a backhoe, which digs into the ground beneath the sites causing holes in the ground.
Andy Weiss, manager of planning and development services, suggested to council that a concrete base with a lego block construction could be looked at for bins next year.
Stuart said there are only a few locations that make sense for the town, and most of them are within two or three blocks of each other.
“We really need one in the deep south in that new subdivision,” he said.
The town will be investigating the best locations for the sites and also what materials to use when constructing the structures.
