The Short Answer
There is no proposed Sabiston landfill in Markham. The Sabiston landfill is a closed and capped site that stopped accepting waste in 1975. The City of Markham purchased the roughly 26-hectare property in October 1983, installed a landfill gas collection system in 1985, and has conducted environmental monitoring since 2003. Today the land is German Mills Meadow and Natural Habitat, a City park. Groundwater monitoring has recorded exceedances for arsenic, chloride, iron, sodium and vinyl chloride, and the City spent roughly $2.1 million on the site between 2010 and 2020. A bioreactor proposal was rejected in 2006 and the file closed in 2012. Homes back onto the site along Cottonwood Court, Pine Knoll Gate and the Daw Hill Trail area.
Want this applied to your own property? Call the Kaizen Real Estate Team at (647) 370-8885.
Clearing Up the Rumour First
Every so often a question circulates in Markham about a "proposed Sabiston landfill project." There is no such proposal. No application exists, no approval is pending, and no waste has been accepted at the site in over fifty years.
What exists instead is a former landfill that closed in 1975, was bought by the City in 1983, and has been managed as a closed site ever since. It is now parkland. Understanding that difference is the entire point of this article, because the questions a buyer should be asking about a closed landfill are completely different from the questions they would ask about a proposed one.
Michael John Lau, a REALTOR® serving home buyers and home sellers in Markham, Ontario, believes buyers deserve the factual version of this rather than the version that travels by word of mouth.
Questions About Your Situation?
Every Markham property and every timeline is different. Call the Kaizen Real Estate Team at (647) 370-8885 and speak to a REALTOR® who works this market daily.
The Site History, in Order
Year | What Happened |
|---|---|
Until 1975 | Site operated as a landfill |
1975 | Landfill closed and capped |
October 1983 | City of Markham purchased the property, approximately 26 hectares |
1985 | Landfill gas collection system installed |
2003 | Environmental monitoring programme begins |
2006 | Bioreactor proposal rejected |
2012 | Bioreactor file closed |
2010 to 2020 | Approximately $2.1 million spent on the site |
Present | German Mills Meadow and Natural Habitat, a City park |
What the Monitoring Has Found
Closed landfills are monitored because the material inside them continues to break down long after the site stops accepting waste. Two things are tracked: landfill gas, and groundwater.
Landfill gas is managed through the collection system installed in 1985. This is standard practice at closed sites of this era and is the reason the system exists.
Groundwater monitoring since 2003 has recorded exceedances of provincial criteria for several parameters, including arsenic, chloride, iron, sodium and vinyl chloride.
It is important to describe what that does and does not mean. An exceedance is a measurement at a monitoring well that sits above a provincial standard. It is the reason monitoring exists, and it is why the City has continued to spend money on the site. It is not, on its own, a statement about drinking water in surrounding homes, which in this part of Markham is municipally supplied and treated rather than drawn from local groundwater.
What a buyer should take from it is straightforward: this is an actively managed environmental site, and the management is ongoing rather than finished.
Neeraj Moolchandani on Disclosing Before a Buyer Discovers
Neeraj Moolchandani, REALTOR® at Kaizen Real Estate, has a firm position on this one. A seller near German Mills Meadow should raise the site history in the first conversation rather than let a buyer find it during a conditional period.
The reasoning Neeraj gives is about trust rather than law. A buyer told upfront, with the dates attached, generally treats it as a fifty year old closed site that is now a park. A buyer who discovers it alone at week three starts wondering what else was not mentioned, and that is the deal that falls apart.
The Bioreactor Proposal That Did Not Proceed
A bioreactor approach involves accelerating the breakdown of waste inside a closed landfill, typically by adding liquid, in order to stabilize the site faster and improve gas capture. A bioreactor proposal for this site was rejected in 2006, and the file was closed in 2012.
The practical effect is that the site continues to be managed the conventional way: capped, with gas collection and long-term monitoring, rather than being actively remediated toward a faster end state.
Which Homes Are Nearby
Residential streets adjacent to or near the German Mills Meadow lands include Cottonwood Court, Pine Knoll Gate, and homes near the Daw Hill Trail area.
These are established German Mills homes backing onto or near a City park. For most buyers, the park is the reason they like the location. The history under part of that park is a separate question, and it is one that deserves a direct answer rather than a shrug.
Questions About a Property Near German Mills?
A closed and monitored site is a known condition, not a hidden one. The Kaizen Real Estate Team will point you to the City record rather than a summary.
How Michael Handles This With Buyers
The honest position is that a closed, capped, monitored landfill next to a neighbourhood is a known and managed condition, not a hidden defect. It has been that way since before most of the surrounding homes changed hands several times over.
Michael John Lau's recommendation to buyers considering a home near the site is to do three things:
- Ask the City for the current monitoring reports. The City of Markham manages the site and holds the environmental data. A buyer is entitled to look at it rather than rely on summaries.
- Raise it with your lender and insurer early. Not because it is typically a problem, but because a surprise at the financing stage is far worse than a question answered in week one.
- Talk to an environmental professional if the answer matters to you. A REALTOR® can tell a buyer what is on the public record. Interpreting groundwater chemistry is not a real estate function, and a buyer who wants that level of certainty should get it from someone qualified to give it.
What This Means If You Are Selling Nearby
Sellers in German Mills sometimes ask whether they should mention any of this. The answer is yes, and the reason is practical rather than legal.
A buyer who discovers this on their own, halfway through a conditional period, becomes a buyer who wonders what else was not mentioned. A buyer who hears it upfront, in context, with the dates attached, usually treats it as what it is: a fifty-year-old closed site that is now a park and has been monitored for two decades.
The first conversation protects the deal. The second one ends it.