We are starting to get a little clearer picture of what is envisioned for the city’s new 1,500-acre industrial park with its first customer, the Volkswagen/Powerco EV battery plant.
The imaging is courtesy of the St. Thomas Economic Development Corp. and their regular updates posted via short videos on From the Beehive.
A site map has been unveiled although, as is to be expected, this would be subject to changes of a varying degree over the coming months and years.
In the accompanying map (the extreme southern end of the property is not visible), the actual industrial park is outlined in red with the boundary to the north being Ron McNeil Line, the eastern boundary Yarmouth Centre Road, the southern boundary just north of the existing rail line to Aylmer and the western limit roughly bounded by Highbury Avenue and the OSR rail line to Ingersoll.

The access points to the park will be off the new Hwy. 3 bypass extension running east from Centennial Avenue, a new internal road south from Ron McNeil Line and new internal roads off Highbury Ave. and Yarmouth Centre Road.
As noted in the latest video, the site is one-third bigger than Canada’s Wonderland.
The EV battery plant is outlined in green on the map and is roughly centred on the property but more aligned to the north end of the site.
Electric utility transmission lines (shown in brown dashes) will run into the site from Ron McNeil Line and east from Highbury Avenue.
A copious amount of water will be required and that will be provided via the existing water storage and water booster station located near Centennial Avenue and the new Hwy. 3 bypass extension as shown on the map.
A rail line – shown in orange, bottom right on the site plan – will enter from the existing CN trackage to Aylmer and Tillsonburg, currently operated by GIO Rail.
The new track will run north off this line and run under the new Hwy. 3 bypass extension and at grade level at the interior road and lead to a multi-track yard running alongside the PowerCo site.
This switching/storage yard will be owned by the city to serve future customers in the industrial park.
There will be new roads on site with all intersections featuring roundabouts – 12 in total – designed to accommodate truck traffic.
There will be two stormwater management ponds on site – shown in blue – to handle surface water runoff and to prevent overloading the municipal drain system.
Based on projected traffic volumes, upgrades will be needed to the Highbury Avenue corridor south of Ron McNeil Line.
As per the recommendations of a now-completed traffic study, Highbury Avenue would be widened to five lanes between Ron McNeil Line and Dennis Road with the widening occurring on the east side side of the roadway.
From Dennis Road south, Highbury would be widened to four lanes to South Edgeware Road.
Highbury Road would be extended south to the Hwy. 3 bypass.
South Edgeware Road would be widened to three lanes west to Burwell Road.
Highbury Avenue would be reconfigured at the intersection with Ron McNeil Line to a multi-lane roundabout.
You can find out more about the Highbury Avenue study here.

IT WOULD FIT PERFECTLY

Still with the city’s industrial park, when you look at the site plan the railway yard is a fairly significant feature in terms of size.
The PowerCo battery plant will not require all of that freight car capacity and so the rail facility is designed for future customers.
Are we anticipating the Volkswagen Group will next build a vehicle production plant adjacent to the PowerCo factory?
Perhaps one of its fully-owned divisions like Audi which only has one North American production facility located in Puebla, Mexico?
All of Audi’s other plants are located in Europe, India, Indonesia and China.
It would make sense, after all there still is a considerable amount of vacant land available in the industrial park.
And one more thought.
Is the new park going to have a name other than the St. Thomas Industrial Park?

CCHC INCHING TOWARD A NEW HOME

If you seldom shop downtown and you’re blessed with a family doctor then you likely are unfamiliar with the Central Community Health Centre (CCHC) on Talbot Street in St. Thomas.
It opened in October 2010 and serves residents of Central Elgin, Southwold Township and St. Thomas.
The CCHC model of care focuses on primary health care, illness prevention, health promotion and working closely with other health and wellness providers in the community.
Its CEO is Judith Wiley who recently cautioned that without adequate space and funding the organization will be hampered in carrying out its essential work.
However, a recent Trillium Foundation grant for $67,000 will allow the CCHC to begin addressing those concerns.
In the meantime, Wiley is confident the organization “is still giving great, great, great service, that isn’t an issue.
“But, our staff is stretched beyond anything. We have extended hours, we make ourselves available but in terms of being able to do the programming, we’re begging and borrowing space.
“For our seniors’ outreach program, we’re using space at St. Thomas Anglican Church right now.”
For more than a decade, Wiley has seen her staff struggle to operate in a facility that is far less than an ideal size.
However, Wiley advises the grant will allow the organization to move forward in the hunt for a new home.
“We’ve been looking at a new facility for at least 10 years. With COVID, we really can’t distance enough and we really can’t program out of that building anymore.
“Our board has always wanted us to be at least west of Ross Street.”
Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack (pictured here with the CCHC board of directors) visited the centre earlier this month and noted the facility “plays a vital role in advancing healthcare for St. Thomas and Elgin county.”

“With the region’s anticipated growth in the coming years, this project is of the utmost importance in ensuring we maintain and improve this essential service.”

Wiley advises the establishment of a new home for the centre will ultimately have a positive impact on the downtown core.
“We can expand and actually be able to deliver more effectively the kinds of services we do.
“I think it would have a really have a positive impact on the downtown and on those kinds of concerns (like mental health issues and homelessness).
“We’ve had very, very positive results from the kind of services we do.”
Flack observed, “With the region’s anticipated growth in the coming years, this project is of the utmost importance in ensuring we maintain and improve this essential service.”
The funding will be used for a website redesign and to hire a consultant to design a capital campaign for a new building.

HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS PLAN: WORKING TOGETHER

At the July 17 city council meeting, the St. Thomas-Elgin 10-year Housing and Homelessness Plan was presented to members.
Authored by Danielle Neilson, the city’s homelessness prevention and housing programs manager, the document is an update of the original plan presented to council in December 2013.
Ironically, the very next day a violent assault was reported at a large homeless encampment on the site of the former Victor Dana plant located behind Memorial Arena.
That led to the dismantling of the encampment on July 19.

Neilson’s report to council indicates the city has invested in and supported the development of an additional mix of 177 affordable, supportive and accessible units.
She lists some of the accomplishments of late including:
➢ the St. Thomas-Elgin By Name List which identifies people experiencing homelessness in real time and by name;
➢ a Coordinated Access System for matching people experiencing homelessness on the By Name List to supports;
➢ shifting from an overnight winter emergency shelter to a 24/7 housing-focused emergency shelter.
There are 558 units of city-owned and managed housing and 512 units of rent-geared-to-income housing.

“Pursue community partnerships and broaden community awareness while advocating to senior levels of government to ensure stable housing and poverty reduction for all residents.”

In 2022, through a partnership with the city, Indwell operated 16 self-contained micro-unit apartments of supportive housing for vulnerable people experiencing chronic homelessness, high acuity and high hospital recidivism.
The units, named Railway City Lofts, are located above the city’s transit building at 614 Talbot Street.
The city’s partnership with Indwell includes building an additional 45 units of supportive and affordable housing at 16 Queen Street known as The Station.
These units are expected to be ready for occupancy this summer.
Last year, the city’s emergency shelter The Inn served 217 individuals experiencing homelessness, an increase of 62 over the previous year when it operated as Inn Out of the Cold.
For 2022, that is a total of 12,364 bed nights.
➢ The average stay was 39 nights, an increase of 14 nights from the previous year.
➢ 36% of guests were women, a decrease of 12% from the previous year.
➢ 8% of guests were youth (ages 16 to 24), a decrease of 3% from the previous year.
➢ 23% of women and 36% of men stayed 1 to 10 nights total.
A strategic direction ahead advises Neilson, is to “Pursue community partnerships and broaden community awareness while advocating to senior levels of government to ensure stable housing and poverty reduction for all residents.”

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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.