Residents in one Saint John community are concerned about a proposed industrial park expansion.
The city is looking to expand the Spruce Lake Industrial Park in Lorneville by around 1,600 acres.
However, some residents who live in the community say they have a lot of unease with the plan.
Adam Wilkins, who is part of the Save Lorneville group, said there is a lot of unease and mistrust in the community.
“Lorneville has a long history of residents’ land being expropriated in the late 60s and early 70s for Coleson Cove and other industrial future use,” Wilkins told our newsroom.
“A lot of families had to move their houses, give up the places that they lived for industry and they were not always appreciated or respected.”
The planned expansion comes amid a shortage of development-ready land for businesses in the city’s industrial parks.
Wilkins said many unanswered questions about the expansion still remain, such as what sort of industry could be setting up in the future.
“Thirty metres behind people’s houses could be a heavy industrial park,” he said. “Heavy industry could be a refinery, it could be an EV battery plant, it could be a relocated [American Iron and Metal].”
RELATED: Saint John considers expanding Spruce Lake Industrial Park
Wilkins said residents in the community are also worried about the potential environmental impact of an expansion.
“The area of phase one that they plan to develop, over 50 per cent of that is wetlands, so how is that going to impact that environment? Also, all of the residents in Lorneville are on wells,” he said.
Mayor Donna Reardon said expanding the city’s industrial parks has been one of council’s top priorities.
“We look at Halifax and we look at Moncton — I think Moncton’s on their third or fourth industrial park — and we really don’t have any pad-ready sites,” Reardon said in an interview.
“It’s pretty difficult to sell your location if you’re not ready for business to move in. So that’s what we want to do.”
Reardon also confirmed that the city has no plans to relocate American Iron and Metal’s scrapyard from its controversial location on the waterfront to Lorneville.
“We’re looking to attract somewhere in the fields of green energy, advanced manufacturing. We’re looking for that high-value work as we go forward,” said the mayor. “They’re cleaner industries. They work well with your communities.”
Several approvals are still required before the proposed expansion can move ahead.
An environmental impact assessment is being undertaken by the province to ensure the project meets all environmental regulations. A decision is not expected until at least mid-August.
The project also requires a municipal plan amendment and rezoning to change the land designation of approximately 1,040 acres from Park and Natural Area, Rural Resource, Employment Area, and Stable Area to Employment Area and Heavy Industrial.
A 30-day public comment period opened on July 8 and the matter is set to return to council on Aug. 19.
Council will decide if it wants to continue exploring the project and may choose to set a public hearing date at that time and then refer the matter to the Planning Advisory Committee for input.
An in-person public hearing is anticipated to take place at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 1.
