City of Saint John to expand industrial park despite local opposition

Saint John city council voted unanimously to expand the Spruce Lake Industrial Park on Monday evening.

As the meeting was adjourned, members of the audience shouted “conflicting land use” and “shame,” reflecting general opposition to the plan from members of the Lorneville community, who live alongside the site of the proposed expansion on the outskirts of Saint John.

The decision followed three marathon public hearings sessions where local residents outlined concerns about damage to forests and wetlands, the safety of their residential well water supply, Indigenous title over the land and other issues.

Just four people addressed city councillors during Monday night’s public hearing, with three supporting the project. Two of these speakers were CEOs.

Andrew Beckett, CEO of Envision Saint John — a business-oriented “growth agency” for the region — cited a need for land that can be developed with access to utilities. “The parcels we currently have available… simply don’t meet that requirement,” he said. “We are an industrial city, we need to build on our strengths.”

Craig Bell Estabrooks, president and CEO of Port Saint John, stated that the city has faced “decades of decline” which he suggested the industrial park expansion could help reverse. “We can be the resilient port for Canada,” he said.

Other speakers included Saint John resident Tim Jones, who supported the project. He argued that returning a portion of revenues from industry to Lorneville residents would help to ease their fears.

Another Saint John resident asked for clarification without lending support.

She asked for hard evidence that revenue from the industrial park would exceed the additional costs for services. “Why are we expanding any industrial park?” she asked. City officials didn’t respond directly.

During the meeting, Ward 1 Councillor Greg Norton suggested that council faced a dilemma.

“It’s difficult to ask for communities to get behind development… when the host community doesn’t directly benefit,” Norton said.

Ward 4 councillor Greg Stewart stressed that Saint John faced competition from Moncton. “They are getting growth, and we are not,” he said.

Ward 4 councillor Paula Radwan said there was popular support for the project — although it was not on display during the three hearings dominated by opposition. “I’ve spoken to many in Saint John who were for this project… that their business depends on it,” she said

Questions for city staff

“What’s really in it for Lorneville?” asked Deputy Mayor John MacKenzie at one point.

Pankaj Nalavde, community planning and housing director, discussed the introduction of new “land for public purposes” program, under which a portion of funds from the industrial park would be reserved for reinvestment in the local Lorneville community.

Councillor-at-large Gary Sullivan asked what would ensure the long-term funding of the LPP program. “What process do we go through to ensure there’s some kind of legacy fund?”

“There’s various models… [but] if the cost of admission is too high for a business, they will look elsewhere,” said David Dobbelsteyn, the city’s director of growth and community planning

Councillors also asked about Indigenous involvement, apparently in response to a letter submitted by Chief Ron Tremblay – also known as Spasaqit Possesom or morningstar burning – in which he opposed the project, citing indigenous title.

“How have they [Indigenous leaders] been consulted?” asked Ward 4 councillor Paula Radwan.

Dobbelsteyn stated that “letters were sent to all First Nations in the province in June of last year… sent to leadership.”

He stated that “Chief Tremblay is a traditional chief from an old system of government appointed by grandmothers but he is not an elected chief or councillor of a First Nation.”

Dobbelsteyn continued by saying that the province only contacted elected officials, and these elected officials may not have contacted Chief Tremblay.

Centuries-old trees discovered: open letter

Earlier, a research associate at the University of New Brunswick issued an open letter stating that numerous ancient trees are located in the area proposed for the Spruce Lake Industrial Park.

The letter from Chris Watson stated that a 403-year-old red spruce tree has been found, close in age to the oldest known red spruce tree in Fundy National Park at 465 years old.

Many trees exceeding 200 years of age have been found, he stated.

This follows research by the Lorneville community using an “increment borer,” a process in which a tool extracts a small core of tissue which when measured gives an estimate of the age of the tree.

Those findings conflict with the Environmental Impact Assessment that Dillon Consulting produced as part of the Spruce Lake Industrial Park expansion project.

That impact assessment report stated that the 107.62 hectares of forest and vegetation slated to be removed during Phase 1 through site preparation was “reversible.”

The expansion will occupy 590 hectares, with Phase 1 removing 18 per cent per cent of the total vegetation for the expansion, according to the report.

The trees scheduled for destruction were labelled by Dillon Consulting as “relatively low value, both economically and ecologically.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article included incorrect information about the size of the expansion and the percentage of vegetation that will be removed. It was updated at 4:25 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, to include the correct information and more details from the meeting.

Lucas Reynolds is a student at Mount Allison University and a summer intern at the NB Media Co-op