Plans for a big greenhouse development have been put on hold following the discovery of threatened species at the Blenheim Business Park.
Chatham-Kent's Director of Economic Development Stuart McFadden says Voorwinden Greenhouse Inc. purchased a four-acre parcel of land at the Blenheim Business Park for $77,500 in October of 2016 with the intentions of developing it last year.
McFadden previously told BlackburnNewsCK.com that Voorwinden is planning to build a greenhouse-type structure that will act as a warehouse. The building will be approximately 21,000-22,000 sq ft. in the park.
However, a damper was put on these plans when a threatened species of bird was found in the park by a local resident. A Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) representative says three Species at Risk are currently living in the park, including the bobolink bird, the eastern meadowlark bird, and the eastern fox snake. According to the municipal report, approximately half of the Blenheim Business Park has been identified as having a Species at Risk issue.
Chatham-Kent council voted unanimously at Monday night's meeting to allow administration to re-purchase the four-acre parcel of land at the park and sell Voorwinden another parcel of the same size. The motion also calls for the municipality to cover reasonable costs that are incurred by the company because of the land transfer.
The municipality's report states that the costs to complete the property re-purchase and sale, along with other costs related to Voorwinden’s transfer to a new site, are estimated to be approximately $15,000.
In order for Voorwinden to complete the construction of its proposed facility, it will need approval from the MNR.
"We have been working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Lower Thames Conservation Authority on a solution, but unfortunately, we're not going to be able to meet the timelines for Voorwinden to be able to build in spring of 2018," explains McFadden. "The next best move for us was to find another parcel of property within the park that wasn't affected and do this transfer of property."
McFadden says he isn't worried that the threatened species will hamper future development at the park.
"We are taking the necessary steps to make sure that the Blenheim Business Park will be developable in the future," he says.
McFadden says there are ways the MNR can move the species away from the park.
"We will go through and identify any species at risk that are in the area. They will either be relocated and/or another habitat will be provided for them," he explains. "At which point in time we will be able to work the property to a point where it will not be an area where they would want to come into in the future."
The director says he fully expects that once the process has been completed, the Blenheim Business Park will be fully developed in the future.