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An Oxford County auto parts maker is a step closer to acquiring a public road separating its buildings that would ease operations and unlock potential future growth.
Woodstock city council voted Thursday to receive a report that proposes Vuteq – which makes interior and exterior plastic parts for four different automakers – purchase a portion of Keyes Drive between Longworth Lane and the company’s main office at 920 Keyes Dr. in the city’s south end.
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The company’s buildings are on opposite sides of Keyes Drive, and privatizing the road “offers the company several advantages” such as additional parking, unhindered flow of traffic between the sites and increased pedestrian movement between factories, according to a staff report.
Transferring the road to Vuteq’s ownership also allows the company the ability to add 4,550 square-metres (49,000 square-feet) to its property, thereby creating more job opportunities, Vuteq representative James Burnett said in a brief presentation to politicians.
“Vuteq has been such a great community partner business,” Woodstock Mayor Jerry Acchione said. “A possibility of another 49,000 square feet yet, this is fantastic news for the city of Woodstock.”
According to the staff report, a traffic impact study was done on April 30 between 4 a.m. and 6 p.m. in which 180 metres of Keyes Drive was closed to examine how a permanent closure would influence traffic flow.
Eight other companies are located on Keyes Drive east of the proposed section of road. City staff received “several comments raising concerns over the short time frame” of the study and a more thorough traffic study might be necessary to consider the road’s closure, the report said.
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“We want to make sure there’s no big negatives” to other businesses, Acchione said. “We want to make sure (concerns) are addressed and everything makes sense to everyone and make sure it’s a safe and accessible roadway.”
As part of the report, staff suggested a traffic impact study at the intersection of Keyes Drive and Springbank Avenue during a longer period of time to assess how traffic volume is affected if the road transfers ownership. The estimated price tag of the study is $20,000 and would be funded by the economic development budget for costs related to land sales.
With approximately 1,300 employees, Vuteq is Oxford County’s second largest employer behind Toyota Manufacturing Canada and has a long history in Woodstock.
The plant was first established in 1988 in a 3,700 square-metre (40,000 square-feet) manufacturing building. The company has undergone 17 expansions since it opened and its facilities have ballooned to a total of more than 42,500 square metres (458,000 square feet), the report said.
Its most recent expansion, a $40-million investment in June, saw Vuteq add 7,800 square metres (84,000 square feet) to its property and is “nearly complete,” the report said.
The investment – $11.4 million of which was from the provincial government and largely in loans – was expected to add 145 jobs to Vuteq’s workforce once it’s finished.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada
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