Latest news with #DavidDobbelsteyn
CBC
21-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
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. WATCH | Residents reject changes to controversial industrial park expansion plan: Media Video | CBC News New Brunswick : City shifts away from heavy industry, adds green focus to industrial park expansion Caption: Saint John has revised its controversial plan to expand the Spruce Lake Industrial Park. The city says the area will largely be for light and medium industry, with a shifted focus on green and clean sectors. Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. 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."
CBC
09-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
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. WATCH | Residents reject changes to controversial industrial park expansion plan: Media Video | CBC News New Brunswick : City shifts away from heavy industry, adds green focus to industrial park expansion Caption: Saint John has revised its controversial plan to expand the Spruce Lake Industrial Park. The city says the area will largely be for light and medium industry, with a shifted focus on green and clean sectors. Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. 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 Saturday, 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."
CBC
30-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Saint John adds a green focus to industrial park plan
'Emitting' industries would be barred from Spruce Lake park, but residents not reassured 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.
