AIM's Moncton scrapyard to get shipping container wall to reduce noise

A wall of stacked shipping containers painted green is planned at a Moncton, N.B., scrapyard to reduce the noise reaching nearby homes.

American Iron & Metal, known as AIM, is expected to install what Moncton city staff describe as a "noise mitigation wall" at the company's scrapyard on Toombs Street.

Elaine Aucoin, the city's general manager of sustainable growth and development services, told Moncton council on Tuesday that the city has issued a permit for the wall.

The city said the wall will have containers stacked three high. It's expected to be about 8.5 metres (28 feet) tall and 43 metres (240 feet) long. It's planned between the street and a rail spur where scrap material is loaded into train cars.

The company's provincial operating approval, extended earlier this summer, requires it to implement a a noise mitigation plan by Nov. 1.

Coun. Shawn Crossman, whose ward includes the area, said in an interview he's concerned about the plan.

"All you're going to be doing is redirecting the noise," Crossman said.

During the council meeting, Crossman requested city staff hold a public meeting in the neighbourhood, preferably by the end of September. Aucoin said they would look into holding a meeting.

AIM's operations in New Brunswick have faced increased scrutiny after a fire almost a year ago at its Saint John port location.

With the port site shut down, the company increasingly used the Moncton location to ship scrap. That led to residents raising the alarm about increased noise, pollution and trains blocking Mill Road.

In May, Public Safety Minister Kris Austin sent the company a letter threatening to revoke its salvage dealers licence, which expires in June 2025. Austin has yet to make a decision on the issue.

Allan Dearing, a spokesperson for Public Safety, told CBC News on Aug. 28 that there's no timeline for a decision.

Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold sent Austin a letter Aug. 7 outlining the concerns residents have voiced to the city about the site, which AIM took over in March 2023.

"Residents in that neighbourhood who had, until now, not expressed any significant concerns with the previous operations, have indicated to us that the operations are having a direct and severe impact on their quality of life," Arnold wrote.

"They have expressed anger, frustration, and discouragement as this has been dragging on for months without a resolution to the difficult conditions that they state they are living under."

The letter was sent days after a separate approval through the Department of Environment and Local Government to operate the site, which had been set to expire Aug. 1, was extended to Nov. 30. That extension added the noise mitigation condition.

Aucoin told council that the city's bylaw enforcement division "continues to receive, as well as actively enforce, complaints with respect to noise as well as debris."

Deputy Mayor Paulette Thériault, whose ward includes the AIM site, asked city staff for more details about the enforcement efforts.

Nick Robichaud, the city's general manager of legal services, said complaints were being reviewed by staff like with any other property.

"There's very little that I can say beyond that," Robichaud said when Thériault asked for a more general explanation.

"We can't get into discussing matters that are going to be before the courts because that could impact the enforcement process, the investigation process and the legal outcomes. So we don't discuss those publicly."

The site's zoning doesn't allow a scrapyard. However, it has been allowed to continue because the zoning changed after a scrapyard was already operating, Aucoin told council.