Overflow crowd pours out worries to Saint John council about Spruce Lake plan

Nipun Tiwari · CBC News

· Posted: May 13, 2025 9:26 AM EDT | Last Updated: 25 minutes ago

Saint John assembly had to hold its ballot connected a arguable program to grow the Spruce Lake Industrial Park aft residents spoke for 5 hours against it Monday night, galore expressing choler and immoderate connected the verge of tears.

Close to 100 radical filled the assembly enclosure and spilled into the lobby arsenic residents of the rural Lorneville community successful the southwestern portion of the metropolis got to code councillors for the archetypal clip since the projected enlargement was announced astir a twelvemonth ago.

Twenty-nine radical spoke connected the rezoning required for the task earlier the hearing was adjourned astatine 11 p.m. 

"Thankfully, assemblage members stepped up, not conscionable radical from Lorneville and not conscionable radical from Saint John," Wilkins said.

The proceeding volition proceed adjacent Tuesday, erstwhile councillors volition perceive from much opponents and from supporters.

The metropolis announced its program to grow the concern park last July and said the site's municipal designation would person to alteration to "employment and dense industry" to let development. 

After astir a twelvemonth of absorption from the assemblage and meetings of a task unit acceptable up successful response, the metropolis updated the proposal to say the improvement country volition chiefly beryllium utilized for "medium" and "light" industry, with a absorption connected greenish sectors.

Zoning provisions would prohibition emitters and respective types of operations, including scrapyards and pulp mills. Other concern uses that would autumn nether "heavy industry" would necessitate a hazard assessment.

These changes did not quell opposition, however, with residents saying dense concern operations would inactive beryllium allowed and determination were nary hints arsenic to what manufacture mightiness spell determination and when. 

In the week earlier the proceeding Monday, staff said, they received much than 200 letters, astir against the project. One was from John Williamson, elected past period successful the national riding of Saint John-St. Croix, which includes the community. He urged councillors to ballot down the proposal.  

Environmental impact a cardinal worry

Residents spoke astir the past of the assemblage and the improvement it's already accepted since becoming portion of Saint John. They had a assortment of concerns astir Spruce Lake plan, including wetland loss, semipermanent assemblage impacts and the fearfulness aboriginal councils mightiness reduce protections. 

"What happens to the adjacent assembly and the adjacent assembly and the adjacent assembly that degrades immoderate benignant of protections that you enactment successful and hollow immoderate benignant of securities that you enactment in," said Ashley Anthony of the Climate Action SJ advocacy group.

Leah Alexander and different speakers besides rejected metropolis unit allegations of NIMBYism, oregon not successful my backyard.

"We're not complaining astir shadiness from an flat analyzable oregon accrued sound from a caller splash pad oregon fumes from a parking lot," Alexander said. 

"We are not warring for our backyards. We are lasting up for the hundreds of creatures and surviving things that telephone this ecosystem home."

Staff reports accidental pushback stems from misinterpreting and misunderstanding the connection successful the city's municipal program and zoning bylaw. Residents accidental dense manufacture should beryllium 1½ kilometres distant from neighbourhoods, according to the  municipal plan, portion unit accidental these buffer guidelines were created with larger operations successful mind.  

But this is not explicitly stated successful the municipal plan, said hostile Sherri Colwell-McCavour.

"If this argumentation and region was not meant to see each imaginable dense industry, past the onus for knowing is not connected the scholar of said document, but it's connected the writer of that document."

The meeting's somesthesia took a notable spike erstwhile Anthony urged the politicians to "lead with their hearts" and "not marque narrow-minded decisions," saying the assemblage is "screaming" for councillors to support them.

"And you guys aren't doing your job," she said.

"We conscionable request a mates of you to workout that motivation worth and to basal with the radical present who attraction astir that environment. Just due to the fact that you don't spot it each day, and due to the fact that it's retired of show and retired of caput for you, doesn't mean that it's retired of show and retired of caput for them."

Mayor Donna Reardon interrupted Anthony astatine the 10-minute bounds placed connected each talker and said her statements were "quite the judgment" connected council. Coun. Brent Harris said, without turning connected his mic, that the comments weren't productive.

Anthony and Harris got into a little testy, largely indiscernible speech arsenic radical successful the assemblage reacted angrily to councillor. City hallway information guards tried to intervene and Anthony ended her address.. 

City highlights uncertain economical future

Representatives of the metropolis and concern groups emphasized a need for the parkland expansion, pointing to what they described arsenic an uncertain economical aboriginal for the province, including a debased projected maturation successful GDP successful the coming twelvemonth and Saint John's presumption arsenic the most tariff-exposed metropolis successful the country. 

Ian MacKinnon, who heads Saint John Industrial Parks, said that without the disposable onshore the metropolis won't beryllium capable to accommodate caller businesses.

MacKinnon said helium couldn't sanction funny businesses due to the fact that of non-disclosure agreements but 2 companies allowed him to disclose immoderate information. MacKinnon said the metropolis received 2 "letters of intent "in April: 1 to physique a information centre and another for a "green manufacturing project."

He said these would some beryllium $1 cardinal projects. The information centre would bring 150 jobs and the greenish manufacturing task would 150. At the highest of construction, they would employment more than 700.

The 2 unneurotic would summation the city's spot taxation basal by astatine slightest $170 million, helium said.