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As Woodstock eyes more land for industrial use, Oxford County politicians have pushed ahead a plan to rezone property in that city’s east end for an industrial subdivision.
County politicians approved an amendment to Oxford County’s official plan at Wednesday’s council meeting, paving the way for 36 hectares (89 acres) of land to be developed into an industrial subdivision near the city’s Toyota assembly plant.
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“I’m feeling good about it,” said Oxford Coun. Bernia Martin. “You never want to aggressively take too much land out of agricultural production, but this is a parcel of land that for many, many years has been slated for this type of development.”
The motion to rezone the 36 hectares of land, primarily used for growing crops but dotted with some woodlands and wetlands, was passed by Woodstock politicians at a Nov. 21 council meeting. Oxford County’s support moves forward the plan to transform the property into a subdivision of about a dozen blocks. Six of the blocks would support industrial activities, one would be reserved for commercial use, another block is pegged for servicing and four blocks are intended for environmental features, according to a report submitted to Oxford council.
The privately owned land is on the north side of Highway 2 and the east side of Highway 401, across from Toyota’s manufacturing facility and connected to 136 hectares of city-owned property directly to its east. The city-owned land – already earmarked for industrial development – runs along Highway 2 extending to Blandford Road and was approved for industrial development by Woodstock politicians in May, and supported by Oxford County councillors at a meeting a month later.
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“To me, both parcels of land are one big project that has gone under secondary plan review,” said Martin, who is also a Woodstock city councillor. “This has been a long time in coming.”
Although the 36 hectares of land approved for rezoning is private, the city is driving both developments forward since Woodstock owns the adjacent 136 hectares, said Eric Gilbert, Oxford County’s manager of development planning.
“The city owns the (136 hectares) around it that they want to develop, and they need this piece to also happen, so they’re working together,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert said there’s a lack of servicing to the two parcels, meaning Woodstock will need to work with nearby Toyota and the Ministry of Transportation to “get a crossing under the 401 for servicing.”
“All of the sanitary sewers and water comes from the city piece to this piece,” Gilbert said. “Essentially, just a corridor through this land to service everything in the area.”
Development of both parcels of land are still at least a couple years away, Gilbert noted.
“I don’t think they’ll be in construction, probably till 2027 at the earliest, just due to the approval that they need to make that happen,” said Gilbert.
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