Beef up dumping law, Ferguson says
Councillor says Spectator’s Havana Group Supplies investigation shows need to control dumping on rural farmland
Ward 12 Coun. Lloyd Ferguson says a Spectator investigation Saturday into Havana Group Supplies Inc. shows the urgent need to beef up city bylaws around soil dumping.
Under the current setup, Ferguson said, there’s little the city can do to prevent soil and fill from being dumped on rural farmland.
A draft bylaw now in the works would require the landowner to obtain a permit stipulating how much soil could be dumped on the property and where it could be placed.
The Spectator’s investigation revealed that a property associated with Havana Group Supplies in rural Flamborough has allegedly accepted more than 24,000 loads of soil since last summer.
Piles of soil approximately 10 metres high are visible on the 40-hectare property, located on Highway 5 West in Troy, just west of Peters Corners. The property has operated for years as Waterdown Garden Supplies Ltd.
“We can’t allow this gong show to continue,” said Ferguson, who is now responsible for rural west Flamborough after Hamilton’s ward boundaries were rejigged in the last municipal election.
Dumping excavated soil is a growing problem in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area as fewer municipalities are prepared to allow loads to be dumped without permits.
A representative of the numbered company that owns the Troy property could not be reached for comment. Attempts to call Waterdown Garden Supplies were met with a busy signal throughout the day Monday, and a second phone number was out of service.
The Spectator’s investigation of Havana Group Supplies showed the company and its principals suggested they have received construction-related contracts from Metrolinx, CN Rail and three casinos worth $110 million per month.
Metrolinx, CN Rail and the three casinos indicated to The Spectator they had not awarded any such contracts to Havana Group Supplies, related companies or their principals.
The head of Hamilton Police Service’s major fraud unit says there is no active investigation underway with respect to Havana Group Supplies Inc.
Det. Sgt. Greg Doerr said police can’t initiate an investigation without a complainant.
A couple of the principals associated with Havana Group Supplies are already facing a number of criminal charges related to other matters.
Steve Sardinha, 46, of Hamilton was charged by Niagara police in October and December with 11 criminal counts, including fraud, use of forged documents and uttering threats to cause bodily harm. The charges are related to a lease and alleged soil dumping that occurred at a property in Grimsby.
Over the years, Sardinha had already amassed several fraudrelated charges and convictions for bilking customers through his commercial and residential renovation businesses.
Also associated with Havana Group Supplies is ex-lawyer John Findlay, who had his licence to practice law revoked earlier in April. Findlay was charged in September with theft, fraud and breach of trust for allegedly misappropriating nearly $2 million from a class-action lawsuit settlement fund.
A third principal of the company is alleged to be Pat Musitano, a member of one of Hamilton’s long-standing organized crime families. He has been described in court documents as a minority shareholder in Havana Group Supplies.
On Thursday, Musitano was shot multiple times in a Mississauga parking lot shortly after leaving a meeting with a lawyer who has been representing Havana Group Supplies.