A complicated plan for a new industrial development, if approved, will straddle the boundary between Bradford West Gwillimbury and New Tecumseth.
Bradford council approved, in principle, Official Plan and zoning-bylaw amendments during the regular meeting this week in response to the request from Trisan Holdings and Trisan Construction (2000462 Ontario Limited) for 16.34 hectares of land, including 5650, 5618 and 5584 Highway 9.
The bylaw enacting those amendments is anticipated to come before council for approval on Sept. 3.
According to a report from Thomas Dysart, senior planner for the town, Trisan requested the properties be rezoned from agricultural and environmental protection to rural employment with exceptions (M3) and highway commercial with exceptions (C3), as part of their plans to create an industrial subdivision off Highway 9 near the existing Trisan contractors yard.
“It is absolutely a perfect spot for commercial industry in that area,” said Bradford Mayor James Leduc, pointing out that Highway 9 is a major highway.
Coun. Ben Verkaik was also supportive.
“It’s already a commercial area,” he said, pointing to a factory across the road. “It’s just a way to clean the whole area up and take advantage of it.”
The future development is planned to include multiple blocks with a number of rural industrial sites with outside storage as well as some highway commercial sites, possibly including a gas station, drive-thru restaurant, building supply store and other retail.
All of that is expected to be serviced by private water and wastewater systems, the details of which are to be determined in future, and due to the presence of the West Holland River, the development is planned to be contained to the south portion of the properties.
Each block is expected to be accessed from an internal road which would meet Highway 9 at the signalized intersection across from Showa Court.
Approval from Bradford council isn’t the only one Trisan needs though, as the development is also planned to include 37.16 hectares at 5752 and 5878 Highway 9, which are part of New Tecumseth, with all five properties totalling 53.5 hectares.
That presents “a lot of hurdles,” as noted by Coun. Peter Dykie.
“This application hasn’t been easy,” he said. “It’s very difficult for their planning team and for them to put this together because they’re on the outskirts, the south end of our municipality.”
New Tecumseth council isn’t expected to make a decision for their portion until Aug. 26 at the earliest.
Bradford held a public meeting regarding the requested changes on Nov. 23, 2021, and according to the report, no members of the public spoke, the town has not received any comments from the public on the application, and no internal departments or external agencies have expressed concerns.
Pending approval from both townships, next steps are expected to include a draft plan of vacant land use condominium as well as individual site plans for each block, requiring future approval from council, and providing opportunities for more feedback.
