Moncton recommends zoning changes around school
École Champlain is located in an industrial park and parents have raised health concerns
Moncton council passed a motion on Monday recommending a zoning change that will stop new industrial companies from setting up near a local elementary school.
École Champlain is located in an industrial park on Mill Road, where odours have at times forced the school’s administrators to keep the children inside at recess. Parents have also raised concerns about truck traffic around the elementary school.
Some parents have been pushing for the provincial government to build a new school or for the city to force companies out of the industrial area.
Instead, Moncton council passed a motion on Monday recommending properties on both sides of École Champlain be rezoned to residential and commercial from industrial.
Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc said new businesses that move into the area will have to comply with the recommended zoning change, but said it would not force companies out of the area.
"Business and industry have been there so long that they have a legal right to continue, even if the city rezoned the land, this is what is known as a non-conforming right," LeBlanc said.
École Champlain, which was built in 1969, sits in a residential neighbourhood that is surrounded by a number of industrial companies.
When the school was constructed there was only an asphalt plant in the area, but now dozens of other industrial companies have set up nearby.
The Department of Environment conducted tests in the area in 2009 and 2010 and found the smells do not pose a health risk to the students.
Stephanie Hopper, the president of the parent and school committee, said the rezoning is a step in the right direction but more needs to be done to move the heavy industry out of the area.
"We do believe they can be a little more creative in looking at proactive solutions and exploring other ways. Do we have existing land? Do we have, you know, in-kind support that we can be looking at," she said.
Hopper said a committee, consisting of representatives from the provincial government, the school district and the city, are working on a solution. She said her preference would be to have the businesses relocated.
"Our number one would be to move the businesses, it's a huge property, there is already a school there, and the city has other industrial parks, that businesses could move to," Hopper said.
"As a taxpayer, I'm not interested in paying for a new school when I don't have to, when there is an existing school, when cheaper solutions could be found." She said she hopes to see the plan by July.