Industrial interest driving overhaul of old split road

Sarnia is spending $150,000, mostly from development charges, on designs to service an industrial property and connect a roadway split since it was built about 50 years ago.

There’s no services, save for water, to a 640-metre-wide property in the no-man’s land between segments of Gladwish Drive. But Sarnia has been getting “a number of related inquiries” about creating those and connecting the road segments, a city ​​report says, since the property was listed last October for $3.5 million.

“My understanding, there has been a fair bit of interest,” in the 14-hectare (35-acre), privately-owned, mostly vacant parcel at 211 Gladwish Dr., said Alister Brown, the city’s development and transportation manager.

His report calls the Hwy. 40-fronting property “a prime opportunity for private industrial development in the city.”

Why there’s a break in the road isn’t clear, he said.

“It looks like both sides were constructed kind of mid-70s (and) the assumption here would be that the roads were constructed to give access to the landowners, he said.

All properties on Gladwish have access from the roadway, even with the break, he said.

“So it just seemed like that’s where they were stopped.”

Plans are to do some of the detailed design work in-house, contract out the rest and have it done by late this year or early next, Brown said.

“We wouldn’t be likely to tender the (construction) work until there’s actually a proposed development, or proposed opportunity in the area,” he said. “We just want to make sure the design is there, so that it’s shovel-ready for when the development is ready to proceed.”

The city taking that initiative is “phenomenal,” said Rob Longo, one of the brokers listing the property with Coldwell Banker Southwest Realty.

“The more legwork that can be done before, the easier it makes that process once things get started,” he said.

“That just allows us to move that much quicker.”

Much of the city’s 403 hectares zoned for commercial and industrial development is not serviced, he said.

“Especially local people are surprised to learn that Sarnia has a real shortage of serviced industrial land,” he said, adding “a lot of the other municipalities that we’re competing with already have serviced and ready-to-build land.”

Hopes are, such an approach by the city becomes the new standard, he said.

Connecting the road and sanitary sewers on Gladwish were identified in a 2019 city report as development charge funding-eligible projects, Brown said. Development charges are fees builders are assessed to help offset services needed for growth.

At the time, building the road was estimated at $750,000, and the sewer connections at $650,000, Brown said. Those figures will be updated in a new development charges report, in the works for 2024.

The city installed water hands last year in front of the property, as part of ongoing Plank Road reconstruction and “to kind of help out with circulation and pressure in the area,” he said.

“Now this part of the design will look at extending the sanitary sewers, obviously constructing the road and making sure that there’s (a) storm conveyance through that section.”

Funding for the design work includes $103,000 from the city’s development charges reserve, $40,000 from its capital infrastructure reserve and $7,000 from its sewer reserve.

Council approved the expense July 10.

Inquiries about the property have been for a variety of potential uses, Longo said.

“That parcel specifically is probably a little bit small for any really intensive uses for manufacturing,” he said.

“It’s more suited to warehousing and storage, which there’s a ton of demand for.”

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