MINTO – A long-spanning development proposal from last winter was back before council in Minto this week. Called a “complex” issue, differences in opinion persist between the two involved parties.
It was Mayor Dave Turton that noted the complexity of the stalemate between developer MHBC Planning and a neighbouring property owner to the proposed 12-lot subdivision.
The next-door property is known as Chalmers Fuels, a fuel providing plant on Wellington Road 109 in Teviotdale that has 110,000 gallons of propane capacity on hand.
Chalmers were represented at the meeting by Scott Patterson, who explained the main concern from their perspective is the unlikely event of an accident causing danger to those on the subject lands. Patterson told council an analysis of the lots discovered there are real risks for five of the lots.
Chalmers, who had several representatives at the meeting including Alex Beatty, want to see zoning restrictions put on five of the 12 lots.
Staff are only proposing such zoning on three lots as it stands.
Beatty explained the reasoning behind their recommendation, is to limit flow of civilians to and from those lots, in the case of an unlikely emergency at the plant.
“As soon as they started branching into commercial type land use, that’s when we had concerns,” Patterson told council. Chalmers representatives referenced an explosion of a 12,000 gallon tank in Toronto in 2008 that caused 12,000 to evacuate.
They say while very unlikely, an accident could be much worse on their site due to a drastically higher capacity of 110,000 gallons.
Patterson says there’s a distinct difference between having those on the lot that solely work there, and having consistent traffic flow of civilians.
Patterson went on to say while three lots have restricted zoning as it stands, there’s still work to do to come to an agreement with applicant Doug Taylor and MHBC Planning.
“There’s a lot of big ‘if’s’ here,” said Turton. For Chalmers though, they say it’s not about liability or being sued. “It’s just a question of public safety and reducing involuntary risk.”
If facilities are zoned industrial, Chalmers say there would be no problem. Staff say they have an interest in finding the middle ground between the two parties, but at the time being, Chalmers and council concurred it’s a “very complex” issue.
