Lakeshore seeks approval for expansion
Industrial lands needed near 401
With an eye to the future, Lakeshore officials are looking to expand the municipality’s industrial and commercial footprint to areas near Highway 401.
Mayor Tom Bain said Lakeshore’s booming growth means local officials have to start planning for five years down the road when developers and business owners will be requiring serviceable lands.
To that end, Lakeshore hopes the Highway 401 corridor will be the next area for industrial and commercial development.
“We’ve had a little bit of interest already expressed on when are we going to get out there on the 401,” he said.
The ease of access to one of the busiest highways in North America is the main draw for entrepreneurs. “Businesses with their justin-time delivery can jump on the 401, off the 401 and they’re at their businesses and their deliveries are much easier,” Bain said.
The proof is as close as a drive down the 401 where industrial sites or commercial businesses can be seen at major intersections in the Chatham area, London and beyond, he added.
Lakeshore already has an area designated industrial off Patillo Road, as well as small pockets of land in Comber and in the former Rochester and Tilbury North areas.
“We need to be where you can get (electricity), gas and especially sanitary sewers” to those sites, Bain said.
He said council wants to expand the industrial development at the Highway 401/Comber intersection as well as develop the area where Lakeshore adjoins Tecumseh at Manning Road.
But a major roadblock may be the province. When the newly formed Municipality of Lakeshore prepared its Official Plan, it asked the province to allow for industrial development at both Patillo Road and Highway 401.
The province forced the town to choose one or the other. Council voted for Patillo Road. Nevertheless, the town is writing the minister of municipal affairs requesting changes to the Official Plan.
Any change to the town’s Official Plan will also have to be approved by the County of Essex.