Saint John industrial park expansion focuses on medium, light industry, staff says
Very few exceptions for heavy-industrial uses, Saint John growth director says
In order to ease residents' concerns, city staff say the controversial Spruce Lake Industrial Park expansion will be mostly for light and medium industry.
There will be "very few exceptions for heavier uses," said David Dobbelsteyn, the city's director of growth and community support services.
"And those are primarily to allow for larger manufacturing of modern uses."
City staff and Lorneville residents are fast approaching a pivotal public hearing on May 12, when councillors will make a decision on the controversial plan aimed at attracting businesses to the region.
According to earlier iterations of the plan, the city wanted to create a new zone — called the Spruce Lake industrial zone — which would allow light, medium and heavy industrial uses, without specifying sectors and without a focus on light and medium industry.
Medium-industrial zones are generally for operations where nuisances like noise and odours can stay within the site boundaries. Heavy-industrial zones accommodate larger operations, where these impacts will be more far reaching and need to be further away from residential areas. Light industries generally don't have those impacts.
The most recent version of the plan — released as a draft on the city's Shape Your City website — emphasizes "green and clean" sectors and de-emphasizes heavy-industrial uses with only some exceptions.
"So let's say we were to have a semiconductor factory that was interested in moving from Silicon Valley in California and expanding to Saint John," Dobbelsteyn said.
"That's a clean and green industry. It's no emissions whatsoever. We'd be interested in that."
Planning language complications
For the plan to move forward, the city needs council approval to change the municipal designation of 420 hectares of the area to "employment area and heavy industry."
This — when announced in July — drew significant pushback from members of the Lorneville community who fear the potential hazards of living near a heavy-industrial site and the impacts it would have on surrounding ecosystems and residential areas.
In draft reports, city staff say pushback stems from misinterpreting and misunderstanding the language in the city's municipal plan and zoning bylaw — specifically around the phrase "heavy industry."
Complications come from the city's municipal plan — a long-term planning roadmap distinct from zoning bylaws — which only recognizes light and heavy industry. Anything considered "medium" would fall under heavy industry in the city's long-term plan.
"Due to the limitation of the existing language in the Municipal Plan, the expansion area of the Spruce Lake Industrial Park must similarly be designated as Heavy Industrial even though the majority of uses [in the area] are intended to be medium or light industrial uses," the staff report says.
Dobbelsteyn said the Spruce Lake industrial zone will be the most heavily regulated industrial zone in the city.
"All of the industrial uses that Saint Johners would colloquially understand with heavy industry, whether that's a refinery or pulp mill, scrap and metal shredding — none of that is going to be permitted in the Spruce Lake Industrial Park," he said.
Heavy industrial developments will still be permitted in the park, as long as they aren't explicitly prohibited — as scrapyards and emitting industries will be. Those with processes considered volatile — like ones that involve acid, for example — would require a risk assessment.
Residents reject changes
Lorneville community members, who have a protest planned on Sunday afternoon, say they feel their concerns were not heard in the eight months of discussions with the city.
"Although the intention may be greener energy, the option is still there for heavy industrial development. It's not excluded. So the fear is still there of heavy-industrial development within 150 metres of our houses," said community representative Leah Alexander.
Buffer zones would start at 150 metres from the industrial park. Industrial buildings would need to be 250 metres away from residences, and a volatile industrial site would need 500 metres of separation.
Alexander said the buffer still amounts to being substantially less than the city's municipal plan guidelines, which recommends a 1.5-kilometre buffer between heavy industry and residential areas.
In the report, staff say the municipal plan's guidelines — which are not bylaws — were created with larger operations, such as refineries, in mind.
Dobbelsteyn said a difference of opinion doesn't mean staff aren't listening.
He said the city is "trying to find reasonable compromises that benefit the needs of residents, but also the needs of our business community, and that's one of those challenges."
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