Residents forced to move due to soil contamination

Residentsin 11 low-income rental homes on a former radar base in Sydney, N.S., are being forced to find another place to live due to soil contamination caused by buried oil tanks.

New Dawn Enterprises, a non-profit agency that owns the homes, told residents this week they have to leave in three months.

The tenants have been offered $1,500 to help with moving costs, a reimbursement of their final rent payment and assistance in finding another place to live.

The agencys decision to shut down the homes came after it received news from the Department of National Defence that it will beginto clean up the contamination.

However, New Dawn will be required to tear down the 60-year-old homeson Dryden Avenue.

Mary Lou Cox, who has lived in the area now known as Pine Tree Park, said the news couldnt have come at a worst time.

"I lost my husband in November and I just got over an operation (for) breast cancer," Cox told CBC News on Wednesday. "I started my treatment Friday. Now I have to find a new place to live."

The housesbelonged to the Defence Departmentuntil thebase shut down in the early 1990s. New Dawn Enterprises purchased the property, including the homes, soon after the base closed.

Oil leaked into soil

Several years ago, New Dawn discovered about40 oil tanks that were buried on the property in the 1950s. The remaining oil inside the tanks was leaking into the soil and under the homes.

New Dawn had been pushing for DND to take responsibility for the contamination and potential cleanup costs.

Project manager Jim Graham said the decision to force residents to move was a difficult one. The agency explained to residents that it would be too expensive for the organization to undertake the massive cleanup.

"The good news, after all this time: DND is going to come and do what they have to do. And the bad news is people will have to leave," Graham said.

However, resident Bill Wiggins said he ismore worried about possible health problems as a result of oil contamination underneath their homes.

"Half a dozen of residents affected are cancer victims or former cancer victims," Wiggins said. "We dont know and they dont know if the cause is in this area."

In 2007, New Dawn scrapped a plan to construct more low-income housing units on the formerbase because ofits ongoing dispute with DND to clean up the soil.

Incorporated in 1976, New Dawn Enterprises is the oldest community development corporation in Canada. It is a private, volunteer-directed, not-for-profit organization.