ON THE MOVE
Seed plant bound for Cypress County
A planned expansion for a seed cleaning plant will take it out of Medicine Hat city limits, but allow the cooperative to double its production at a new $10 million facility on Highway 41A.
It will also open up some new land in an area in the city targeted for new development to boost tourism.
The 11-22 Seed Cleaning cooperative has operated for 54 years at a tucked away corner of Bridge Street near the Medalta Pottery site.
This week Cypress County council approved a zoning change for a parcel located two kilometres east of Veinerville, that would be home to a new plant able to accommodate truck traffic if plans are approved this month.
Coop board president Garry Lentz tells the News that another facility has been talked about for more than 10 years.
“We’re completely hemmed in where we are,” Lentz said Thursday. “There’s new technology that we would like to add to the plant, but there’s no room to add on to the existing plant where it is.”
Specifically, a gravity table to separate seeds based on density and also a colour sorter would be added to the processing.
The current plant, built in 1964, can currently process about 400 bushels per hour, while the changes, including a general modernization and new processing methods in a new build would boost that to 1,000 bushels per hour.
That site would be on an 18.5-acre parcel, on highway, near Range Road 52, and would be subdivided from agricultural district to become industrial use land.
Subject to county planning commission approval, Lentz said ground could be broken on the facility this summer, and it could be operating next spring.
At this week’s public hearing, six adjacent landowners submitted letters opposing the zoning change, arguing the enterprise would devalue their land and increase traffic in the area.
Lentz told the News that operations take place during business hours on weekdays, with typically five trucks loaded each day and up to 10 during peak season.
Lentz said those trucks travel the secondary highway anyway to reach the current plant on the east side of Medicine Hat.
“The traffic is pretty insignificant for the area, especially considering the volumes that 41A used to see,” said Lentz, adding that in terms of servicing the site, not much potable water is required. A dugout would be built to satisfy firefighting requirements.
Current plant site would operate as is until the new plant is commissioned, but could be sold at that point.
The plant comprises about one-sixth of a city block that is otherwise occupied by Chinook Greenhouses.
Chinook owner Milt Pancoast said the site is somewhat unique and therefore difficult to envision as something else going in, other than some light industrial use.
“They’ve been great neighbours, but it’s pretty clear that there’s not enough room,” said Pancoast. “Farm trucks are getting bigger, and it’s a pretty tight turnaround.”
Pancoast said his company already owns land to the north that could accommodate expansion. Land to the east runs up against the city’s Industrial Avenue berm that is currently under construction.
A long-term plan for the area, drawn up by city planners and River Flats community members in 2011, states the area should transition away from light industrial uses to tourism destination district dubbed the “Historic Clay District.”
The plan calls for higher-end residential and commercial development, but council has more recently approved lowintensity industrial projects and storage yards in the area.