Flamborough landowner Justin Holmes continues to add truckloads of soil to his property, at least one of his neighbors said, even as the City of Hamilton seeks an injunction to get him to stop.

The city filed an application for the injunction on Jan. 9, citing more than 300 instances since November where Holmes imported fill or top soil to the property.

One of Holmes’s neighbors, Marie McGaechy, told CBC Hamilton this week she and her family heard transport trucks arriving at and leaving the property as early as 6 am

“It’s a ludicrous amount, I don’t understand this … They’re dumping what looks like construction material, concrete pavement, I’m not sure what it is,” McGaechy said.

According to the city’s site alteration bylaw, “No person shall transport fill or topsoil to a site from any source site that is located outside the City of Hamilton.”

Fill is any combination of soil, rock, dirt or earthly material commonly used in construction and is defined in the bylaw as “earth or rock fill or material of a similar nature.”

Holmes said he’s hoping to find a resolution with the city that allows him to finish a 40-acre land rehabilitation project he started in April 2019 when he began surveying the land. The project is out to make the land farmable again, he said. He didn’t say what he would do with the land beyond that.

He told CBC Hamilton he was bringing fill in from outside of the city, from an area “11 minutes west [of his property]” that he says is considered to be Cambridge, Ont.

“I do understand… I sit back and put myself in my neighbor’s shoes… They don’t even know who I am,” Holmes said.

“Honestly, I just hope they let me at least either finish or give me top soil so I can at least cover what I have brought.”

Holmes says he worked with an engineering consultant a few years ago to conduct a preconstruction survey, which evaluated impacts to the land from the construction process.

He said he applied for a site alteration permit in April 2021, to start phase one of construction in May 2021. The city said the permit was denied as it was incomplete.

Michelle Shantz, a spokesperson for the city, said it needed supporting documentation addressing material quantity and quality as well as a soil sampling analysis plan.

Holmes proceeded with early stages of construction, which includes bringing in fill, in 2022.

More than 300 tickets issued by city

The city says it has issued more than 300 tickets — each with a fine of $500 — over the last two months to various trucking companies that transported fill to the property totaling around $150,000 in fines. Holmes has also been ticketed seven times.

On Aug. 11, a fire broke out at two barns on the same property. Hamilton’s fire chief, Dave Cunliffe, said then that “significant quantities of hand sanitizer” kept the fire burning for several hours.

Gavin McGaechy — Marie’s brother who lives with her near the property — says he understands that Holmes’s project is to improve the farmland, but he doesn’t see the need for adding top soil, because farmers have successfully grown crops there in the past.

He says he’s worried about the environmental issues raised by using fill too close to a nearby creek.

Holmes meanwhile says he has gone through all the proper channels with the city and obtained two agronomist recommendations on how to make the land farmable.

He is still hoping to finish the project by June.

“This would all be kind of pointless if they didn’t let me finish up,” he said.

The city said it anticipates the matter to go before court on Jan. 25.