Aldershot Plant Relocation Seen as Good News
An Aldershot industrial facility is planning to relocate. The move will be good for the company and the environment, but also help with the emerging Aldershot Major Transit Station Area (MTSA).
KING Paving will relocate its asphalt plant on Howard Road to a new site at 291 North Service Road, slightly west of the Mercedes dealership and within the boundary of the closed Halton Region landfill site. It has negotiated a 20-year lease with the region.
Company president John Hutter calls the move “Project Relocation.”
“We want to stay here. We want to be part of the community. Moving out of Burlington was the last thing we wanted to do.”
The new site requires city approval, so the company is planning a virtual public meeting at 1 p.m. on Thursday, January 20 to share its news and to gather public feedback.
The new plant will be more productive than the one on Howard Road. It is expected to increase hot mix asphalt production from the current 200 tons per hour to 300 tons per hour. Its new technology will also improve just-in-time deliveries.
“Everything will move faster. Trucks will move through faster, so you don’t get trucks waiting in long lines,” according to consultant John Doyle.
The new facility will be “the greenest asphalt plant in the province,” according to Doyle. He points out that despite being located at a former landfill site, it is not actually being built over decaying garbage. Instead, the ground is filled with “broken concrete, dirt and gravel, so we’re not building over any hazardous or community waste. It’s basically construction material.”
Hutter predicts “zero” impact on the environment.
The just-in-time services will reduce the need for piles of raw material. “You won’t have those enormous piles where you get wind blowing dust off the piles,” said Hutter.
So called “blue-smoke,” which enters the atmosphere when trucks are loaded, will also be substantially reduced.
The new plant is not expected to intrude too much on the skyline in front of the escarpment. Doyle describes it as “tucked in” and it will eventually be surrounded by new trees. “What you’ll probably see is the top end of the silos, nicely painted.”
Local city councillor Kelvin Galbraith is delighted with the news. “Maintaining King Paving in Aldershot keeps approximately 80–100 jobs in our area. The new plant will also be a modern, smell-free facility that does not require the piles of recycled material to operate.”
KING plans to eventually sell its 25-acre site on Howard Road to a developer, a move that would fit nicely into the city’s plan to incorporate the space into its new MTSA.
“The current location is located in an identified strategic growth area known as a Major Transit Station Area [MTSA] as identified by the province, region and City of Burlington. We expect to see a transition from employment to mixed-use residential and commercial communities,” according to Galbraith.
KING is hoping that the actual move will take place in 2023, following all the necessary approvals.