{"id":38982,"date":"2026-09-24T14:19:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T18:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=38982"},"modified":"2026-09-24T14:20:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T18:20:01","slug":"aurora-looks-to-crack-down-on-construction-dust-in-the-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-looks-to-crack-down-on-construction-dust-in-the-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora looks to crack down on construction dust in the environment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new local bylaw could crack down on the amount of dust construction projects pump into the local environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council this week will consider a series of recommendations to mitigate silica dust resulting from construction and similar types of projects, following a motion made last year by Ward 6 Councillor Harold Kim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recommendations, which were presented to Council at this month\u2019s Committee of the Whole meeting, include a new draft bylaw to increase financial penalties faced by dust polluters, if they do not course correct after an initial warning from the municipal bylaw department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRespirable dust generated through residential construction activities, including the cutting of concrete, stone, masonry products, and similar building materials, has become an increasing source of concern for Aurora residents,\u201d said Alexander Wray, Aurora\u2019s Manager of Bylaw Services, in his report to Council. \u201cWhile construction activity is a necessary component of maintaining and improving residential properties, uncontrolled dust may negatively impact neighbourhood properties and, depending on the material being disturbed, may present health concerns for workers and nearby residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the initial motion, Wray said staff reviewed existing provisions within the Town\u2019s Clean Communities Bylaw and associated legislation to determine the best approach in addressing the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStaff concluded that a standalone Dust Bylaw would provide a clearer, more comprehensive, and more enforceable framework than incorporating additional provisions into the existing Clean Communities Bylaw. The proposed bylaw establishes where dust may affect neighbouring properties, while recognizing reasonable construction activities through practical exemptions and enforcement provisions consistent with the Town\u2019s existing regulatory framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe proposed bylaw identifies several acceptable dust mitigation techniques, including wet cutting, wetting construction materials, dustless saw technologies, vacuum attachments, tarping, wind fencing, and other comparable dust suppression methods appropriate to the activities being undertaken. Property owners and contractors remain free to determine which mitigation measures are appropriate and reasonable to prevent dust from escaping onto neighbouring properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo support the effective administration, the proposed bylaw incorporates inspection powers, compliance orders, remedial action provisions, and enforcement mechanisms consistent with other regulatory bylaws administered by the Town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recommendations were received positively by Council at the Committee level, with Councillor Kim stating it\u2019s \u201cnot an easy subject matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery year, especially during the spring when everyone’s doing their interlocking and other construction projects in their homes, there’s a lot of silicate and dust, various materials out in the air. We all see kids, adults, all exposed to it. It’s really important that we do have some mitigation procedures and enforcement procedures in place, and I believe that’s what this report satisfies,\u201d he said.
An outstanding concern, he added, was how to address culprits who don\u2019t take responsibility through enforcement actions, and whether they should have to comply with more than one condition as a minimum threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe would obviously try to educate first and\u2026if that failed, just because a contractor only wet the material once, they would have to continuously comply with the provisions of the bylaw, so it would be a fines-committing offence,\u201d Wray replied. \u201cThe officer would have to be satisfied that the wetting of the material is consistently happening, and in the absence of that, then they would not be able to sidestep enforcement and they would potentially face a penalty under the Administrative Monetary Penalty System. (AMPS)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere has not been any consideration given to having multiple thresholds required to be breached in order for a violation to occur. I think as part of the report, we reviewed best practices in other municipalities and found that this is a consistent approach. Officers will always try to lead with education. Oftentimes we can gain compliance by simply having a conversation with somebody and educating them on the provisions of the by-law. So, I would argue that that’s probably the first stage. Then the second stage would be then finding them committing that offense by not using dustless technology or wetting or not wetting material prior to cutting. That would lead to potentially enforcement action\u2026. Under the Administrative Monetary Penalty System or AMPS, the maximum fine that we can set is up to $1,000, so what we would do is we would review best practices, and we would identify appropriate fine amounts. I anticipate that that will probably be somewhere in the $300 to $800 ballpark, depending on the severity of the offenses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new local bylaw could crack down on the amount of dust construction projects pump into the local environment. Council this week will consider a series of recommendations to mitigate silica dust resulting from construction and similar types of projects, following a motion made last year by Ward 6 Councillor Harold Kim. The recommendations, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-a8K","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-04 04:01:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38983,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38982\/revisions\/38983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}