The Ontario government gave Sarjeant Co. a special gift this holiday season.
On Dec. 23, the province posted a decision on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) from Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, approving a ministerial zoning order (MZO), which will allow Sarjeant to move their concrete batching plant from 3111 Sideroad 10 to 1934 Sideroad 5 in Bradford.
For Sarjeant’s owner and chief executive officer Scott Elliott, the approval is the result of about two years of work.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “We’ve been on pins and needles for the last six months.”
The company has been looking to move since the Ontario Ministry of Transportation expropriated the property in 2022 as part of the Bradford Bypass highway project and eventually required Sarjeant to leave, first by July 9, 2024 and then by Dec. 9.
The MZO is expected to expedite the process of rezoning the agricultural property at 1934 Sideroad 5 to allow for relocating the concrete plant — first with something temporary and then a more permanent plant, which is also expected to see associated facilities such as electric vehicle charging stations, fuel storage and dispensing, as well as other accessory uses.
After months of working with town staff and looking at different properties, Sarjeant determined the new location is the only site in Bradford that will meet their needs for expansion, while also providing quick access to the highway, keeping trucks out of town.
“You certainly don’t want gravel trucks going through the middle of Bradford,” Elliott said.
While the operation will be away from the urban settlement area, it still keeps the jobs local, which was a key point for Mayor James Leduc, who said he’s happy to see the MZO approved for Sarjeant.
“It’s great to see that they’re going to be able to open their operations in Bradford like we hoped and create more employment opportunities,” he said.
Earlier in December, town staff had confirmed they were in regular contact with the ministry to discuss various details of the MZO, but didn’t have an estimated timeline for the approval.
Anyone who regularly drives the section of Sideroad 10 between lines 8 and 9 likely noticed the concrete plant, which had stood on the property since 2004, was dismantled and removed by early December, a process which began in late October, according to Elliot and Scott Gibbons, operations manager for Sarjeant.
Since the shut down of the Bradford location, Gibbons said the company has had to lay off some staff and supply customers with materials from the Barrie location instead. However, if all goes well, Elliott is hopeful a portable concrete plant could be operational at the new Bradford location as early as late spring.
“We now have the approvals, but it is now also winter, so it’s very difficult to do anything,” he said. “We will be very active in the spring to get going.”
Meanwhile, readers may have noticed dump trucks moving materials between the Sideroad 5 property and Sarjeant’s various other locations in preparation for that work.
The approval comes after the ministry sought public feedback on the MZO between Sept. 13 and Oct. 13 through a posting on the ERO, “to help ensure decisions are made in a transparent manner and support government priorities,” even though the listing noted public consultation was not required.
That followed Bradford council’s decision from June to approve the demolition of the barn and farmhouse at 1934 Sideroad 5, which itself followed council’s decision from last December to support the request from Sarjeant for the MZO.
“The town’s just been very good to deal with,” Elliott said, noting the company received support from “virtually everybody.”
However, several comments submitted to the ERO were opposed to the new location, based on a variety of factors including the environmental impact and the presence of part of a protected river.
A letter on behalf of the Holland Marsh Growers’ Association from executive director Jody Mott objected to the concrete plant being built on “prime agricultural land.”
“While we understand the importance of Sarjeant to the local economy, we feel there are better locations, outside agricultural lands that would be less impactful to our community and the land we farm,” the letter said. “We understand and support the need for this type of operation to help our town grow and to assist in the development of the Bradford Bypass, Highway 400 and other parts of the transportation network that we all depend on. It’s just the wrong spot.”
While the MZO removes the requirements for public consultation to rezone the lands or the ability to appeal the rezoning, it will result in a development agreement under Section 47 of the Planning Act which would still require plans, assessments, studies and reports before the site can be developed, according to a December 2023 report from town community planning manager Alan Wiebe.
Meanwhile the mayor said he’s still working to help find new locations for two other local businesses set to be displaced by construction for the bypass: Fred’s Paving and Doc’s Auto Body — both in the Artesian Industrial area.
