When Cathy and Peter Blazkow purchased their five-acre spread on Goward Road to spend their golden years, they had no idea retirement would be so much work.
The Blazkows purchased the home at 240 Goward Rd. in 2012, but the problems didn’t arise until they decided to build a garage last year.
“They started taking soil off the top and there wasn’t a problem until we got about three feet down. Then all of a sudden the stench [of diesel] was unbelievable,” said Cathy Blazkow.
After calling in someone to investigate the matter, the Blazkows were informed the garage was sitting on 800 tonnes of contaminated soil, with possibly another 800 tonnes located farther down the property.
The Blazkows have spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to deal with the oil-contaminated soil, with crews brought in this week to remediate the soil that had been kept covered by tarps for the past several months. The crews mixed the contaminated soil with nitrogen-rich fertilizer along with horse manure.
“To get rid of this once it’s remediated, this part alone [800 tonnes] will be $120,000,” said Blazkow. “They told us if we wanted to get rid of it as is, we would have to barge it off the Island. No one on the Island will touch it.”
The Blazkows filed a lawsuit against the former owners of the property on Dec. 20, but she was told by her lawyer that a judge wouldn’t even be able to look at the case until 2018.
“It’s just unbelievable. I just worry about it so much,” she said.