Spruce Lake vote delayed again after opponents wrap up concerns about expansion plan

A vote on the proposed expansion of the Spruce Lake Industrial Park was delayed again Tuesday night after Saint John council heard the last of 75 people who lined up to speak against the project.

The only people left to appear at a public hearing are those who support the expansion, which the city is spearheading to drive economic growth.

The hearing on the rezoning needed to get the expansion underway began May 12 and, with so many people wanting to speak against the plan, has spread over three nights so far. It will continue June 16 at council's regular meeting.

The proposed expansion is aimed at attracting medium or light industry that's clean and non-emitting to the industrial park in the rural Lorneville area of southwest Saint John.

After the latest round of speakers, Mayor Donna Reardon said that in her 13 years either as a city councillor or the mayor, she has never seen anything like the response the Spruce Lake proposal has received. 

"Lorneville residents, there's seven to eight generations," she told reporters. "They've lived there for a long time.

"They have a community down there and they know each other. They work together. So it's not a surprise that they would come out within this force. I'm not surprised at all to have them here. And I think their voices need to be heard."

Normally, public hearings happen within one council meeting," Reardon said.

"We would hear both sides, we would have an opportunity to ask questions, and then we would make that decision based on our comments, so that's fair ball," she said.

"If you're hearing only half of the story — you really need to have the other to get the balance and to make a proper decision. And we need some time to do that."

The chamber and lobby were filled as they were the previous two nights with 80 to 90 people, most of them opponents concerned about how the expansion will affect the environment and the quality of life in the rural community.

The decision to continue the hearing later in June, when supporters are to speak, was met with anger from people who'd expected a decision by the end of the night.

Adam Wilkins, co-chair of the Lorneville Community Liaison Committee, which aimed to find a path forward between staff and Lorneville residents, said he suspects the delay was premeditated.

"There didn't seem to be many people here supporting the project, and I'm not sure if they were already tipped off that this was gonna happen, but it really seemed like a premeditated plan by council to push it," he said. 

Wilkins also said the 75 people who have spoken were a "great representation" of the community's concerns.

Dozens of questions read to council 

Resident Barbara Gilliland came with a list of 70 questions, which she read one by one to council. The questions, broadly, were about the need for the proposal, the impacts, and how the impacts will be mitigated.

Wilkins, the last Lorneville resident to speak, took aim at city staff in his address over the proposal that came from the task force meetings.

"If a proposed project is so amazing, so generationally transformative and so without risks, then shouldn't the project sell itself?" Wilkins said. 

"Shouldn't [city staff] not feel the need to author a 100 page report that goes out of its way to purposefully deceive, disparage and discredit Lorneville and the members of the task force?" he asked, referring to comments in the city's updated plan. 

Reardon interjected and said she would not have speakers "bad mouthing staff". 

Councillor accused of bias

Wilkins and others also aimed criticism at Coun. Brent Harris over a blog post published on the councillor's website on May 15 that community members perceived as support for the project.

Wilkins accused Harris of "leaking" information about what will come in the park should the rezoning application move forward.

In his post, Harris talked about the expansion's "transformational" opportunities and balancing them with Lorneville concerns. Harris wrote of the positives of the expansion but said he would continue to listen. 

In an earlier version — captured and saved by Wilkins — Harris said the city had received two letters of intent, one for a data centre and the other for a hydrogen ammonia processing facility. 

Lack of information about potential developments is a key reason community members are wary of the expansion.  Harris later changed the wording of his original post to "advanced manufacturing processing facility," and said his original post was a mistake.

But Wilkins was suspicious.

"Why is he privy to that, or why is he allowed to leak that information that puts that out into the public, when the community spent 11 months trying to understand what actually would be coming and how we can ask questions and figure that out," Wilkins asked.

Reardon said supporters will not have more than three nights to express their positions and wants time for staff to address community concerns. 

"There were 70 questions tonight," she said. "We've kept a track of questions and concerns over the last two meetings. Those are the things that councillors were looking to have answered by staff."