It was standing room only Wednesday night at the Marden Community Centre as residents of Guelph/Eramosa Township got their first official opportunity to voice concerns about a huge glass production facility proposed for just west of Guelph.
Roughly 120 people packed the room at a what was officially a public meeting on a planning application.
“This behemoth is a violent assault on the character of Guelph/Eramosa Township,” Ed Kennedy said.
“There’s one word for this: respect,” he continued. “Respect for people, for Canadian values, for the character of the township, respect for the environment.”
Xinyi Canada Glass Ltd. wants to build a two million square-foot float glass production facility on County Road 32, just north of Highway 124 and just south of Strom’s Farm.
The plant would operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and would eventually employ roughly 400 people. Raw materials and finished product would come and go via three weekly train deliveries.
Xinyi is a multi-national Chinese corporation that operates seven facilities in China and one in Malaysia. It employs 12,000 people and in 2017 had $4 billion in revenues.
Wednesday was a public meeting on an application Xinyi has made for a number of zoning bylaw amendment.
The property is already zoned industrial, but Xinyi is requesting a number of allowances, namely:
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increasing the allowable height from 15 metres to 22 metres to allow for interior cranes and overhead equipment.
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10 percent increase in the allowable lot coverage of the building
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permission for an on-site dormitory for 50 people to be used for training staff, emergency personnel and visiting executives
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No exterior loading space, given that loading/unloading will be done by rail cars that come inside the building.
A previous request for a reduced setback from County Road 32 has been withdrawn.
There were no decisions made Wednesday and technical information regarding the application is still coming in. Once it does, a second public meeting will be held prior to any decision from council, Guelph/Eramosa Township Mayor Chris White told the crowd.
“No decision has been made yet. No decision will be made tonight. No decision date has been set,” White told the occasionally-boisterous crowd.
Concerned residents have formed an association called Get Concerned to rally against the proposal and keep people informed.
“This is not appropriate use of the land. Its doesn’t fit,” said Suzie Diamond.
“This is a blight on our landscape and it’s going to be a blight on your reputation,” Diamond told the Mayor. “Have you completely forgotten your responsibility to all the residents of this township?”
White said the township owes it to its residents to look at any and all proposals that comes forth.
They are currently going through the legal, statutory process of assessing the application as it would with any application.
“If something comes in with pretty good jobs and tax revenue, you’re going to look at it,” White said. “It’s just the right thing to do.”
He noted that increasing the Guelph/Eramosa tax base is a challenge given that there is not much residential development happening and the municipality is faced with serious infrastructure challenges in the near future.
He said the taxes that Xinyi would pay would be “millions versus what we have today.”
The township has told Xinyi it will consider some tax incentives if the project progresses, but Guelph/Eramosa does not have development charges.
One of the biggest concerns expressed Wednesday was about the 1.6 million of litres of water a day the plant would use, mostly for cooling purposes in the production process. All water in that area is accessed through wells.
Susan McSherry said ‘our concerns are many” and pointed out that the reports to date are missing critical information.
“How can you come up with an informed decision?” she said, calling the missing information a “red flag.”
“What happens if our wells run dry Mayor White?” she asked.
She and others said that they are not against development or industry, but that this development “is not suitable for this location.”
“The volume of water scares the hell out of me,” added Paul Harding.
Bill Morrison, a hydrologist and one of many Xinyi consultants at the meeting, said initial tests show that area wells will not be affected by Xinyi’s activities.
“We would only use one third of what a golf course uses a day to irrigate a golf course,” said Morrison, adding that further testing is being done.
While the application before council must be assessed on its planning merits by the township, some of the conversation wandered away from that.
One person mentioned China’s human right record.
Another wondered how those living in the 50-person dormitory would be treated.
One woman was concerned about possible explosions.
Project manager Ajax Tung responded by saying the company and this type of industry has an excellent safety record..
“We are not murderers …. We are not psychopaths,” he said at one point.
One person addressed the other elephant in the room: that this is an election year.
“Not one single person is in favour of this,” the man said. “Do what’s right and listen to the voice of the people.”
