Saint John adds a green focus to industrial park plan

Saint John has revised its controversial plan to expand the Spruce Lake Industrial Park, shifting the focus to attracting businesses from the green and clean sectors and not heavy industry.

Lorneville residents opposed the expansion of the nearby park out of fears for the environment and community life, but the latest draft plan would prohibit any businesses from an "emitting" industry, such as one with smokestacks.

The plan originally focused on making hundreds of hectares "pad ready" and redesignating the area for potential heavy industrial use, but did not specify sectors. 

The changes follow feedback a task force gathered from residents of the community on the southwestern edge of Saint John, which the city heard "loud and clear," said David Dobbelsteyn, the city's director of growth and community services.

"We're very confident … we actually have a proposal here that sort of meets the needs the communities are looking for in terms of feeling more secure and protecting the environment," Dobbelsteyn said. 

"But also ensuring that we create venues for more jobs and more growth for the region that's in desperate need of it."

At a media event this week, two development groups spoke in support of new proposal, saying the city is seeing global investment interest from green and clean businesses but needs readily available land to accommodate them quickly. 

"Clean and green energy, green manufacturing, data centres, warehouses — there's all kinds of interest from different industries," Ian MacKinnon, director of Saint John Industrial Parks, said this week at a media event about Spruce Lake.

MacKinnon and Envision Saint John's CEO Andrew Beckett both said the need for the land for these industries is critical because many interested businesses won't wait if they have to go through a complicated rezoning process.

"You would be adding months, if not years, to the process," Beckett said. "Businesses will say we can go elsewhere. They want certainty in terms of where they're going to be."

In October, the city hit the breaks on the original plan for the Spruce Lake expansion because of the concerns raised by residents.

Although the city created a task force for discussion with residents, the pushback escalated as the meetings continued over the winter. 

One last meeting was held April 23, and the updated proposal was posted on the city's planning website Shape Your City on Friday.

As part of its argument for the expansion, the city says companies typically require 40 hectares per site for development, but property that size is not available or  properly zoned elsewhere in the city. 

The draft plan for Spruce Lake would increase a buffer around the park to 250 metres from 150 and nearly doubles the minimum setbacks for "volatile" industrial uses to 500 metres from 300 metres. 

Uses such as asphalt, concrete or cement plants, fertilizer manufacturers, lumber, paper and pulp mills, and similar developments would be prohibited. 

The proposed plan also says the city wouldn't allow development on provincially significant wetlands and would only allow development on other wetlands if there was a clear business case for it. 

A public hearing and a council vote on the draft will be held on May 12. 

Lorneville resident Adam Wilkins, a leader in the opposition to the expansion and chair of the task force, said the proposed changes don't reassure him or other community members.

"We're not against economic development or jobs in the city," he said.

"But at what cost? Is it the risk to health and safety for the people that live here and live nearby, the risk to environment and climate change resilience?"

Residents want more information

Even requiring the new businesses to be clean or green doesn't address a main concern of the community members, he said. They still don't know exactly what will go on the land.

"How do you put restrictions on something that doesn't actually exist yet?" he said.

"If there was a business attached to what was coming, you could know what the pros and cons are, what the risks are …but there is nothing there." 

Beckett and MacKinnon said they could not reveal what businesses have expressed interest in Saint John.  

Dobbelsteyn said companies often prefer not to be identified so their competitors aren't alerted and potentially get to an opportunity ahead of them.

"So there's really sensitive negotiations with site selectors when they're identifying where could developments go," he said.