MINTO – Town council has approved a rezoning application to permit an area poultry transportation business to build a truck maintenance shop, wash bay and office building just south of Harriston.
The 1.75-acre property, located along Wellington Road 109, was zoned agricultural site specific (A-1) and agricultural commercial site specific (AC-105) and designated as prime agricultural land under the Wellington County Official Plan.
The current zoning on the property would allow for the proposed agricultural commercial use.
However, in December, the county granted provisional approval for the parcel to be merged with a one-acre parcel from an abutting farm. The zoning change is a condition of the lot line adjustment.
“This application is to bring the entire merged parcel into conformity with the same zoning on the subject lands as well as just clear up the site specific use on the property,” Wellington County senior planner Jessica Rahim told Minto council on April 5.
“The portion of land proposed to be merged with the parcel is currently zoned as A-1 which would not permit for the proposed agricultural commercial use,” states a report from Minto planning technician Ashley Sawyer.
Additionally, the front portion of the subject property, once the site of the Harriston Pork Marketing Co-operative sales barn, has existing zoning, approved in 2013, that permits specific uses including the breeding, raising and sale of small rodents, a pet store, the sale of related pet supplies and an office.
Sawyer explained the applicant, Dave Ottens of Skyway Estates, does not require the site-specific zoning and has requested the property be zoned agricultural commercial (AC).
Sawyer said the existing structure on the property will be demolished.
The applicants operate a Grey County-based poultry business which involves collecting and transporting poultry from local farms.
“Due to the new requirement for modular loading, the company has had to increase their truck supply to accommodate this,” Sawyer states in a written report.
“The owners purchased the property for the purpose of maintaining the trucks and washing them. There are currently 25 to 30 trucks to maintain.”
“From what I gather this is something that the farming community really needs, because with everything that’s going on in the bird industry, having clean trucks going out of farms is so important,” said Mayor George Bridge.
No one spoke for or against the proposal during a public meeting and a bylaw allowing the zoning change was approved later in the meeting.
