Council has confirmed a decision to build a new municipal maintenance facility on the site of the previous facility which burned down in November of 2013.
At the June 23 council meeting, public works director Brad McRoberts reported that at the request of a Mapleton Township resident, staff undertook an evaluation of relocating the facility, and the administration building located on the same Sideroad 16 property, to the undeveloped portion of the Drayton Industrial Park.
“We had someone ask about it,” Mayor Neil Driscoll told the Community News, adding that while the previous council had considered an industrial park location, the idea hadn’t come before the current group.
“Staff confirm that relocating the municipal maintenance facility and administration building to the Drayton Industrial Park is cost prohibitive, has a negative impact on future economic development opportunities, and would significantly delay the project for a minimum of 18 months due to lack of servicing allocation,” the report states.
The report notes the current industrial park does not have adequate-sized land available, so the undeveloped portion of the Drayton Industrial Park (Phase II) would be required to be developed. “Approximately 12 acres of land would be required in order to accommodate the current and projected future uses of the municipal maintenance facility and administration building and to accommodate the relocation of the county’s municipal maintenance facility (Wellington County is also planning to build a maintenance facility on the Sideroad 16 property). This would consume approximately half the lands in the Phase II Drayton Industrial Park. Based upon site development cost of $300,000 per acre (provided by Chamberlain Architect Services), the site development cost would be on the order of $3,600,000,” the report states.
McRoberts said a conservative estimate of potential lost tax revenue from buildings that could otherwise be put in the park would be in the range of $350,000 to $7.7 million over a 50 year period.
Another potential obstacle is that, while the undeveloped portion of the Drayton Industrial Park is zoned industrial and permits a public works shop, a zone amendment would be required for the administration office.
“Any zone amendment can be appealed to the OMB, thereby delaying the construction further. The Drayton Industrial Park was specifically developed to attract new businesses to the area, but also to provide suitable lands for existing Mapleton Township industrial manufacturing businesses that may need to expand in the future so that they do not locate elsewhere outside of the township. Therefore maintaining these lands for these purposes is essential in supporting and sustaining existing businesses,” the report states.
Council passed a resolution to receive the report and confirm that relocating the municipal maintenance facility and administration building to the Drayton Industrial Park would be cost prohibitive, negatively impact future economic development opportunities, and significantly delay the project.
