Zone change application approved for fruit processing facility in St. Jacobs

A new fruit processing facility will be coming to St. Jacobs after Woolwich Township Council approved a zoning amendment application for the property.

Prica Orchard Inc. wants to build the facility to help process the apples, plums, pears and apricots grown on the property at 881 Weber St. N. simply because of the volume of fruit the orchards produce.

In a presentation to Woolwich Council earlier this week, Brandon Simon, a planning consultant working on behalf of the applicant, told councillors that nearly a metric ton of fruit was harvested from the property last season and the yield is only growing.

Most of the 28 hectare property is located along Lobsinger Line between Weber Street and Apple Grove Road, which is a semi-paved rural road and a topic of concern for some neighbours in the area. They worried about the traffic, noise and dust created by large trucks, particularly on unpaved roads.

Simon told council, the company took those concerns to heart when designing the plans.

“The shipping and receiving area will be directly accessible from Lobsinger Line and that’s where all of the traffic will be directed. It’s just that remaining access that will remain on Apple Grove Road.”

Simon went on to say that access off Apple Grove will only be used for emergency access to the property and only for inbound traffic. He said a site study showed the entrance there was unsafe for outgoing truck traffic.

Another concern was the accommodations needed for the 13 seasonal workers employed on-site.

Simon assured council the workers would be well taken care of.

“The applicants really made a concerted effort to do something kind of above the historic norm here,” said Simon. “You used to see a lot of trailers and things like that when it came to farm worker accommodation. These will be permanent facilities and they’re being designed to provide separate rooms, separate washroom facilities. It’s really kind of a residential standard, so they’re really going above and beyond to deliver excellent health and safety for the farm workers.”

Simon aid the company has made a concerted effort to make sure they are good neighbours.