Saint John considers new restriction on where scrapyards can go

Nipun Tiwari · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 16, 2025 11:14 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Saint John scrapyards and salvage recyclers would beryllium restricted to "heavy industrial" zones of the city, nether a  projected zoning bylaw amendment aimed astatine amended protecting residents.

The projected alteration isn't related to a toxic occurrence astir 2 years agone astatine the American Iron & Metal scrapyard.

But it would bring Saint John successful enactment with astir different cities successful New Brunswick, Thomas Lewallen, a planner with maturation and assemblage improvement services, told the readying advisory committee connected Tuesday.

Scrap and salvage businesses tin impact important outdoor storage, dense motortruck traffic, dismantling operations and imaginable biology hazards, says a unit report.

The zoning bylaw present allows scrapyards successful "medium industrial" zones, but a property can beryllium excessively tiny to incorporate the noise, odours and different nuisances the concern produces.

In areas zoned dense industrial, noise and smells may spread beyond the concern cognition itself, but a buffer portion of 1½ kilometres around the spot is required to support residential communities from the impact.

Scrap and salvage yards besides request to beryllium enclosed by fencing oregon a wall, but the enclosures don't bash thing astir broader impacts to the environment or adjacent homes, the study says. 

In 2023, hazardous fume from a fire astatine AIM's metal-recycling cognition successful Saint John prompted a widespread shelter-in-place order. A task unit concluded the tract adjacent to the harbour was excessively adjacent to westbound broadside homes.

But the AIM cognition is in a antithetic class from a fistful of licensed scrapyards successful the city.

"AIM is simply a spot of a abstracted contented due to the fact that it is located connected larboard land, truthful licensing oregon permitting is not done through the municipality, owed to ... that unsocial transportation with larboard onshore being nether national jurisdiction," assemblage readying manager Jennifer Kirchner, a subordinate of the readying committee, said successful an interview.

"We are ever looking astatine our bylaw and looking to amend [the zoning bylaw] to amended service the assemblage and bespeak antithetic onshore uses. And arsenic portion of that, we looked astatine scrap oregon salvage yards."

Raven Blue, who, on with different residents, pushed for much stringent regularisation of AIM, said the changes the metropolis is considering could beryllium important for residential areas near heavy concern zones. 

"The retention of vehicles, scrap metallic vehicles themselves are inevitably becoming much and much toxic arsenic we're dealing with electrical cars and each the toxic dense metals that are utilized successful the manufacture of those cars," Blue said. 

"I deliberation it sounds similar the metropolis is doing the close happening by limiting wherever that benignant of worldly tin beryllium stored. But of people we would privation to recognize wherever immoderate of those locations are wherever that zoning mightiness instrumentality spot successful the aboriginal and what their plans are successful however they mightiness usage that zoning."

Five addresses successful Saint John person salvage trader licences, the unit study says. Two bash not person yards and are businesses intended for bureau work, Kirshner said.

One of the addresses is already successful a dense concern zone. Two scrapyards are successful mean concern zones. One is Jamie's Scrap Metal, an eastbound extremity junkyard. The different is different AIM operation, besides successful the eastbound end. 

The zoning bylaw amendment would not use to these locations, and the businesses tin proceed to run wherever they are.

The readying committee approved the projected amendment, which goes earlier assembly connected May 5.