Back to SearchStatement Of The Council of The Municipality of Central Elgin
Central Elgin - On June 8, 2022, the City of St. Thomas and the City of St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation issued a joint press release entitled ‘City of St. Thomas Assembles Land for Mega Site Development’. Subsequently, this information was widely reported in local media outlets with statements attributed to City of St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston and City of St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation Chief Executive Officer Sean Dyke.
Media reports with statements from City of St. Thomas spokespersons identified the lands generally as between Highbury Avenue, Ron McNeil Line, Yarmouth Centre Road and the South Edgeware Road unopened road allowance. The majority of these lands are located within the geographical boundaries of the Municipality of Central Elgin. These lands within the Municipality of Central Elgin have land use designations of Agricultural, Natural Hazard and Natural Heritage in the Municipality of Central Elgin Official Plan. In Ontario, land use designations may only be altered pursuant to the Planning Act, 1990.
The agricultural lands identified by the City of St. Thomas are directly north of approximately 800 acres of unutilized employment lands, entirely within the Municipality of Central Elgin, designated as Major Industrial and Commercial Industrial in the Municipality of Central Elgin Official Plan. The Municipality of Central Elgin, Elgin County and the private land owners, of the Central Elgin employment lands, have worked diligently since 2019 to submit these employment lands through the Provincial Job Site Challenge for potential mega site development opportunities.
The Municipality of Central Elgin has been committed to establishing the Municipality of Central Elgin employment lands as a key industrial and commercial development since 1999 with the East Side Development Area Plan. This includes the joint East Side Development Area Environmental Assessment and Master Sanitary Servicing Plan with the City of St. Thomas.The Municipality of Central Elgin remains committed to establishing the Municipality of Central Elgin East Side Development Area employment lands as a key industrial and commercial development to bring jobs to the community and diversify the Municipality of Central Elgin and Elgin County tax base to facilitate local economic growth and prosperity.
During significant economic development opportunity considerations, the Federal and/or Provincial government may utilize various mechanisms, inclusive of communication embargoes and non-disclosure agreements, to protect the confidentiality of certain information related to a potential economic development opportunity. To have a seat at the table and be able to have access to information that is confidential, a Municipality and its officials may be required to acknowledge and comply with the Federal and/or Provincial government communication embargoes and non-disclosure agreements. This process allows a Council and Municipality access to confidential information to represent the public and to consider the well-being and interests of the Municipality, a fundamental principle of the Municipal Act, 2001.
Conversely, the process for municipal restructuring, or a boundary adjustment that alters the geographical boundaries of a municipality, is a public process as outlined within the Municipal Act, 2001 and further described in the attached infographic. That public process includes notice to the public and a public consultation meeting on the potential restructuring proposal.
The Council of the Corporation of the Municipality of Central Elgin remains committed to representing the public and to considering the well-being and interests of the Municipality, including local economic growth and prosperity, with consideration for the Municipality of Central Elgin Official Plan and Municipality of Central Elgin Strategic Plan.
The Council of the Municipality of Central Elgin
Sally Martyn, Mayor
Tom Marks, Deputy Mayor
Colleen Row, Ward 1 Councillor
Dennis Crevits, Ward 2 Councillor
Karen Cook, Ward 3 Councillor
Bill Fehr, Ward 4 Councillor
Fiona Wynn, Ward 5 Councillor
Attachments
Attachment 1 - City of St. Thomas Identified Lands
Subscribe