MINTO – Town resident Johnny Garth plans to build a six-unit, multi-tenant industrial building in Palmerston – but first he needed council’s stamp of approval.
At a July 8 meeting, director of building and planning services Terry Kuipers presented Garth’s proposal to Minto council.
The property, at 340 Minto Rd., is roughly one acre in size, is designated industrial and is zoned site-specific industrial, permitting a range of industrial uses.
The proposed building is to be 6,360 square feet, with the intent to construct a 5,200 square foot addition in the future to host another five rental units.
“The owner is proposing to relocate his business within four of the six units within the building and then rent out the adjacent two,” Kuipers said.
Garth operates a mill working company that builds kitchen cabinetry.
One of its predominant customers is Wellington County, for its social housing needs.
“Staff have drafted up an agreement which the owner has signed,” Kuipers said.
“[It] indicates or contains our normal site control terms with the exception … that the site plan control agreement only pertains to the initial building as there are some servicing needs that are unknown for the addition.”
The applicant or owner will have to return for an amendment when moving forward with the addition.
“Staff are excited to see the development of this site,” Kuipers said.
“It’s been a long time in the works and it actually leaves us with only four parcels within the industrial park to be built on.”
He added, “For some reason this lot kept coming back to us, but a lot of people wanted these one-acre lots. It’s kind of ironic the past developments fell through.”
“When does Johnny propose to get started?” Mayor Dave Turton asked.
“I do not know the answer to that. I believe this year,” Kuipers replied.
Council unanimously approved the agreement.
