Saint John industrial park expansion focuses on medium, light industry, staff says

Nipun Tiwari · CBC News

· Posted: May 09, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

In bid to easiness residents' concerns, metropolis unit accidental the arguable Spruce Lake Industrial Park enlargement volition beryllium mostly for airy and mean industry.

There volition beryllium "very fewer exceptions for heavier uses," said David Dobbelsteyn, the city's manager of maturation and assemblage enactment services.

"And those are chiefly to let for larger manufacturing of modern uses."

City unit and Lorneville residents are accelerated approaching a pivotal nationalist proceeding connected May 12, when councillors volition marque a determination connected the arguable program aimed astatine attracting businesses to the region. 

According to earlier iterations of the plan, the metropolis wanted to make a caller portion — called the Spruce Lake concern portion — which would let light, mean and dense concern uses, without specifying sectors and without a absorption connected airy and mean industry. 

Medium-industrial zones are mostly for operations wherever nuisances similar sound and odours tin enactment wrong the tract boundaries. Heavy-industrial zones accommodate larger operations, wherever these impacts volition beryllium much acold reaching and request to beryllium further distant from residential areas. Light industries mostly don't person those impacts. 

WATCH | Residents cull changes to arguable concern parkland enlargement plan:

The astir caller mentation of the program — released arsenic a draught connected the city's Shape Your City website — emphasizes "green and clean" sectors and de-emphasizes heavy-industrial uses with lone immoderate exceptions. 

"So let's accidental we were to person a semiconductor mill that was funny successful moving from Silicon Valley successful California and expanding to Saint John," Dobbelsteyn said. 

"That's a cleanable and greenish industry. It's nary emissions whatsoever. We'd beryllium funny successful that."

Planning connection complications 

For the program to determination forward, the metropolis needs assembly support to alteration the municipal designation of 420 hectares of the country to "employment country and dense industry."

This — erstwhile announced successful July — drew important pushback from members of the Lorneville assemblage who fearfulness the imaginable hazards of surviving adjacent a heavy-industrial site and the impacts it would person connected surrounding ecosystems and residential areas.

In draught reports, metropolis unit say pushback stems from misinterpreting and misunderstanding the connection successful the city's municipal program and zoning bylaw — specifically astir the operation "heavy industry."

Complications travel from the city's municipal program — a semipermanent readying roadmap chiseled from zoning bylaws — which lone recognizes light and heavy industry. Anything considered "medium" would autumn nether dense industry in the city's semipermanent plan.

"Due to the regulation of the existing connection successful the Municipal Plan, the enlargement country of the Spruce Lake Industrial Park indispensable likewise beryllium designated arsenic Heavy Industrial adjacent though the bulk of uses [in the area] are intended to beryllium mean oregon airy concern uses," the unit study says.

Dobbelsteyn said the Spruce Lake concern portion volition beryllium the astir heavy regulated concern portion successful the city. 

"All of the concern uses that Saint Johners would colloquially recognize with dense industry, whether that's a refinery oregon pulp mill, scrap and metallic shredding — nary of that is going to beryllium permitted successful the Spruce Lake Industrial Park," helium said. 

Heavy concern developments volition inactive beryllium permitted successful the park, arsenic agelong arsenic they aren't explicitly prohibited — arsenic scrapyards and emitting industries volition be. Those with processes considered volatile — like ones that involve acid, for example — would require a hazard assessment.

Residents cull changes

Lorneville assemblage members, who person a protestation planned connected Saturday, accidental they consciousness their concerns were not heard successful the eight months of discussions with the city.

"Although the volition whitethorn beryllium greener energy, the enactment is inactive determination for dense concern development. It's not excluded. So the fearfulness is inactive determination of heavy-industrial improvement wrong 150 metres of our houses," said assemblage typical Leah Alexander.

Buffer zones would commencement astatine 150 metres from the concern park. Industrial buildings would request to beryllium 250 metres distant from residences, and a volatile concern tract would request 500 metres of separation. 

Alexander said the buffer inactive amounts to being substantially little than the city's municipal program guidelines, which recommends a 1.5-kilometre buffer betwixt dense manufacture and residential areas.

In the report, unit accidental the municipal plan's guidelines — which are not bylaws — were created with larger operations, specified arsenic refineries, successful mind. 

Dobbelsteyn said a quality of sentiment doesn't mean unit aren't listening. 

He said the metropolis is "trying to find tenable compromises that benefit the needs of residents, but besides the needs of our concern community, and that's 1 of those challenges."