Cabinet-plant opponent to get his say at council
A Royal Road man will be afforded a second chance to air his concerns over the proposed relocation of a kitchen-cabinet manufacturing plant when it goes to city council for final approval.
Glen Treadaway of 740 Royal Rd. told the city's planning advisory committee it shouldn't be rezoning land designated residential in the municipal plan to permit the factory at 850 Royal Rd.
The committee didn't agree and voted to approve the rezoning needed to allow the business to be relocated to the new site.
The zoning on the land is future development but would have to be changed to general industrial to permit the factory to be constructed.
Treadaway said Fredericton has plenty of industrial land to accommodate a manufacturing business and there's an industrial park nearby.
"It does not need to go beside a residentially zoned area. This is right beside my house," he said. "Do you want a factory beside your house?"
Treadaway said he's familiar with door factories and said they excessively noisy and stinky due to the glues and lacquers used to manufacture cabinets.
He said he has an asthmatic daughter and does not want the business next door to his home.
Brent Wilkins of Bluff Hill Industries Inc. said his company uses water-based solvents and the factory is enclosed with its own ventilation, heat and dust-recovery systems.
Minimizing dust within the plant is critical because it can damage the finished product, he said.
As far as locating in the nearby industrial park, there's no site large enough to handle the 30-metre (100 feet) by 91-metre (300 feet) factory building.
Plus, Bluff Hill Industries Inc. already owns the land it wants to develop.
"It is a quiet business," Wilkins said.
He said the factory wholesales its product so the only truck traffic in and out will be the daily courier service he needs to ship his product throughout the Maritimes, plus two tractor-trailer loads of raw materials.
Bluff Industries currently operates on the former ML Wilkins and Sons property, but the sawmill, which went into bankruptcy last February, is due to be sold.
Wilkins pointed out that in addition to the sawmill site, there's a rock quarry nearby.
The existing plant has 15 employees and operates from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
City planners said although the property is designated residential in the municipal plan, most of the surrounding land uses are industrial.
"Thus, the immediate area is accustomed to industrial uses and the contributory traffic impacts," the planning report says.
The nearest home to the site - Treadaway's - is 100 metres away (about 300 feet).
The planning advisory committee can recommend on zoning amendments, but it's up to city council to give the final thumbs up or thumbs down.
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