Ethanol plant's possible move fuelling negotiations
10/28/2005
BY MICHAEL-ALLAN MARION
EXPOSITOR STAFF / BRANTFORD
Discussions between Brantford, Brant County, a developer and a local farmer-led co-operative are progressing to move the location of a proposed ethanol plant from the city’s northwest over to Cainsville.
King & Benton Development Corp., which earlier this year sold land in its Oak Park North business park to Integrated Grain Processors Co-operative for its $86-million corn ethanol plant, has filed an application with Brant County this week to rezone a 54-acre parcel of land on Old Onondaga Road that it has purchased in the Cainsville industrial area.
King & Benton president Steve Charest said that the rezoning action is to facilitate a change of location he is seeking for the co-op's yet-to-be built plant and allow for an expanded operation.
“We constantly look for ways to make something that is good better, and I think IGPC follows that concept, too,” said Charest.
However, co-op chairman Tom Cox cautioned that while the co-op is involved in discussions about a better location, its business plan still calls for the plant to be built on the 48 acres it has acquired in Oak Park North unless it gets a better offer.
“Right now, we have one piece of property in the northwest and that’s all,” said Cox. “The rezoning application is from King & Benton, not us. Our position is still the same — any opportunity that comes along we’ll look at.”
According to the proposal, King & Benton would swap IGPC’s 48 acres in the business park for the 54 acres in Cainsville and pay $1 million in relocation compensation.
The plant would use municipal water in the Cainsville location, rather than tap into the lowest of three aquifers passing through the northwest.
But the deal needs to be OK'd by city and the county. Right now, the city provides water to the Cainsville area at double its usual rate of 78 cents per cubic metre, which the county sells to users at the lower subsidized rate.
Because an ethanol plant uses a lot of water, the co-op would need a special long-term agreement from the city and the county to get the water at the lower rate.
Brant Mayor Ron Eddy and city Mayor Mike Hancock confirmed that discussions are ongoing.
The move is desired by the city, the county, environmentalists and King & Benton.
The co-op has acquired a permit from the Ministry of the Environment to take 1,600 litres of water per minute from the aquifer. It also won a special rezoning and official plan amendment from city council three years ago, allowing it to be the only industry in Brantford to use groundwater.
However, concern about the long-term viability of the aquifer continues to be registered by environmentalists on the watchdog Northwest Gateway Committee, and by city council.
“We have concerns about them drawing from the aquifer,” said Hancock, “so there are advantages to the plant being located in Cainsville.”
He said the city can supply the large volume of water the ethanol plant would require without constraining its future expansion needs as Brantford’s population and economy grows.
Eddy confirmed that IGPC met two months ago with a special county working group made up of the mayor, councillors and senior staff to discuss the possibility of locating in Cainsville.
“If IGPC makes a deal with the city for water, we advised that we would be pleased to recommend the agreement to our council,” said Eddy.
To accommodate the move, though, the county would have to upgrade its sewage treatment system for the area. The current lagoon system won’t be able to handle the higher volume of effluent expected to come from the ethanol plant.
“But we have to do something anyway for the present users,” said David Brenneman, the county’s economic development director. “The ethanol plant just makes the need for the project more imperative.”
Much also depends on the outcome of a public hearing on the rezoning, scheduled for Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in county council chambers in Paris; and how quickly the county can go through the administrative hoops to accept the development.
