ML Ready Mix concrete facility in Mimico subject of neighbourhood complaints

Some Mimico residents say a concrete batching facility is bringing hundreds of heavy trucks to their neighbourhood every day, sometimes outside of permitted operating hours.

Neighbours who live in the Judson Street area, near Royal York Road, say as many as 384 trucks head to and from ML Ready Mix Concrete every day. The heavy traffic is both noisy and dusty, and while the trucks are only permitted to operate between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., some residents say they're there outside of those hours.

It's hell, it's torture I can't enjoy my home and I've been here since 1985- Dan Irwin, Mimico resident

Residents have been complaining to the city and province since 2007, when the company opened. The area's zoning once permitted the facility, and even though the regulations have changed, ML Ready Mix is allowed to stay.

"I fight it," said Norm Wood, who has lived on the street for around 40 years and now keeps tabs on the traffic using his tablet.

"All I can do is watch them and report what I see," he told CBC News.

Other residents have joined Wood's fight.

"It's the traffic and then air pollution and all the dust it cakes all on your car you have to get your car washed all the time," said Lynn Parik, swiping thick dust from her vehicle to prove her point.

"It's hell. It's torture I can't enjoy my home and I've been here since 1985," said Dan Irwin, who lives across from the concrete facility.

Irwin has been frustrated with how the municipal and provincial authorities have handled his complaints.

"Everybody points fingers I can't get a straight answer normally," he said.

Concrete operation faces charges from city, province

In the last two years, city bylaw enforcement officers have laid charges against ML Ready Mix for zoning violations and for building structures without permits matters that are still before the courts. While the allegations haven't been proven in court, the company faces fines of upward of $100,000 if they're found to be valid.

Meanwhile, the city has set up a camera on a high pole to monitor the company's activities.

Ontario's Ministry of Environment has also laid numerous charges against the company, which are also working through the court system, for discharging contaminants and operating equipment outside the hours of operation.

"We continue to monitor the situation and to visit the site to continue to assess compliance with the various conditions,"said the MOE's Charlie Tajnay.

ML Ready Mix's lawyer, John Alati, said in a statement that the company is in the process of obtaining permits for certain structures.

"The use of the site as a concrete batching facility is legal and permitted the continued allegations to the contrary by some residents are incorrect," the statement said.

The company's owner, Rene Silva, declined to do an interview with CBC News.