Notes from the County of Brant Council meeting, which was held on Tuesday, December 4, 2025.
During the meeting, Council received information on several zoning applications.
- Rezoning application for 125 Bethel Road
The vacant land in question is approximately 1.7 hectares in size and located on the north side of Bethel Road, west of Folsetter Drive. The surrounding area consists of industrial, agricultural and low-density rural residential land uses.
Logan Keen, a planner for the County of Brant, explained that the developer is looking to have 125 Bethel Rd. rezoned from Agricultural to Heavy Industrial with site-specific provisions to permit manufacturing, warehousing and other industrial uses.
The lands are currently designated as “prestige employment” within the Official Plan. While the lands are currently zoned Agricultural, they have not been used for such purposes in many years.
“The applicant is proposing to rezone the lands in order to facilitate the development of a manufacturing, warehousing or other industrial use within the M3 zone under the current site plan application,” he said. “Site specifics for the rezoning application are a reduced street setback from Bethel Road of 20.94 metres, whereas 50 metres is required, and a reduction in parking spaces to 99 parking spaces, whereas 127 spaces are required.”
Five of the parking spaces are planned to be barrier-free and seven of them will be loading spaces. There will also be five spaces for bicycles.
Keen went on to say that the site is currently not serviced, but that land owners intention is to be connected to the municipal services and that County staff are working with a developer to find a solution that works for all parties.
Noting that a notice of application was provided to all landowners within 120 metres of the lands, some public concerns have been raised in regards to lighting, noise, traffic and civil engineering works.
Brooke Burlock, the agent speaking on behalf of owner 214CarsonCo c/o Steve Little of 125 Bethel Road, said the proposed development is a speculative build and the end tenant is not known at this time.
“The proposed development is permitted under the Official Plan and responds directly to the County’s intention for these lands by making productive use of the prestige employment designation along Highway 403,” she continued. “Development will contribute to the diversification of the County’s economic base by providing new employment.”
Following the presentations, one resident from a neighbouring property had questions during the public hearing. She noted that while she lives nearby, she did not receive a notice about the potential development, and wondered if there was a traffic study done in the area.
Burlock confirmed that a transportation impact study had been done and it concluded that the existing transportation network and the proposed upgrades related to Highway 403 interchange is sufficient.
Councillor John Bell later asked why variances are required on the rezoning and Burlock confirmed it had to do with the parking reduction.
Councillor John Peirce then expressed some concerns around the M3 zone, how close the property was to other residents, as well the lack of notice to surrounding properties.
“Through November, we were still dealing with some potential roving strikes from Canada Post. Staff was still trying to do a combination at this point of mailing, and newspaper notices to make sure people were getting notification,” responded Jeremy Vink, the County’s Director of Development Planning. “We should have sent both out if they’re within 120 metres. Now, the resident tonight, is over 120 meters away, so they would not have received notification as they’re over 200 metres.”
Peirce said that perhaps the County should revisit that requirement and should have taken extra steps to make sure the notices were received.
Mayor David Bailey also had concerns with the notification process, saying that the post office being on strike shouldn’t be an issue for residents.
“I think that we should’ve, as a County, made sure that those notices were delivered, whether we have to deliver them ourselves or not. …If it affects you, whether it’s two feet off the measurement of what’s legally required by the County, I think that there’s got to be a common sense factor that, if it’s affecting this neighbour and you live next door, you’re also affecting that neighbour. So I don’t think we should be using rulers and measuring devices. I think we need to do something that just makes sense and is considerate.”
Further discussion relating to the exact location of the build on the property, traffic, the landscaping and buffering, the noise study and potential tenants based on the M3 zoning, the application was later received as information.
- Rezoning application for 169 and 197 Pottruff Road
The vacant land in question is approximately 7.8 hectares in size and located on the east side of Pottruff Road, north of Bethel Road and south of Shawcross Street. The surrounding area consists of industrial uses to the west, an aggregate pit to the northeast, as well as agricultural lands and low density rural residential land uses.
Keen explained that the applicant, the same owner as the above property, is looking to have 169 and 197 Pottruff Rd. rezoned from Agricultural and Natural Heritage to Heavy Industrial (M3) with site-specific provisions to permit manufacturing, warehousing and other industrial uses.
The lands are currently designated as “prestige employment” and “natural heritage system” within the Official Plan. As above, the plans that were submitted are for a speculative build and the tenants of the proposed three buildings have yet to be determined.
“The site-specifics for the rezoning application are: reduced maximum driveway width of 11 metres, whereas 10 metres is required, and a reduction in parking to 360 spaces, whereas 395 spaces are required,” said Keen. “…Key considerations for this site during my review are servicing and the natural heritage feature. Similar to the previous application, the site is currently not serviced despite being in the settlement area of Paris. …It is the intention of the owner to be connected to multiple municipal services and County staff are working with the developer to find a solution that works for all parties.”
Seventeen of the parking spaces are planned to be barrier-free and 35 of them will be loading spaces.
“Prior to the development and the natural heritage in support of the application, an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) was submitted,” he continued. “The report concluded that the existing natural heritage feature would not negatively be impacted in regards to its overall form and function, so long as the recommendations of that report were adhered to.”
Noting that a notice of application was provided to all landowners within 120 metres of the lands, some public concerns have been raised in regards to the environmental aspect of the proposal.
Burlock, speaking on behalf of the owner, said that the lands are currently developed with two low-density, single-detached residential buildings, an accessory agricultural building and agricultural uses.
“They are two distinct parcels, but it is the intention that these parcels will be consolidated on title in the future,” she said.
Burlock also added that the proposed development, like the former application, responds to the County’s intention for the lands by making production use of the location to Highway 403, the strategic goods movement corridor, and will contribute to the achievement of both provincial and County employment goals.
“The development will also contribute to the diversification of the County’s economic base by providing various new employment opportunities and supporting the achievement of the County’s minimum density target of 15 jobs per hectare,” she said. “As noted, a portion of the subject plans is designated Natural Heritage, so as per the Official Plan, the Natural Heritage designation is based on the mapping of the Growth Plan and any available technical studies, such as environmental impact studies and slope stability studies. …An environmental impact study and a slope stability study was prepared to determine the extent of the natural heritage feature.”
Following the presentation, Mallory Biggs, General Manager of Five Oaks Retreat Centre, had the opportunity to raise her and her team’s concerns about the impact of the proposed development on their drinking water supply and the proximity to an Indigenous ceremonial site.
“We acknowledge that we’re not specialists in land planning or water resources and our request is that these technical assessments be provided, and further, that the planning and engineering staff review these reports, along with the risk management official for drinking water, identify the land uses that would not be permitted within the municipal water-well protection area, and exclude these from the permitted uses of the site,” said Biggs. “Following the review of the additional technical studies and plans, zoning areas and permitted uses may require modification. For example, Council may consider an M1 or M2 zone for the portion of these lands outside of the required recharge areas ,natural heritage and natural hazard areas and their buffers to ensure the risk of the water supply and natural environment.”
Another delegate, David Rogers, a tenant farmer in the nearby area, also expressed concerns about the environmental impact of high-density industrial space close to the Grand River.
Brooke Hayward, Chief Operating Officer for 214CarsonCo, stressed that the environmental sensitivity is important to both her and the rest of the group.
“In fact, half of us come from that background, so making sure we balance our communities and grow where we need to grow and protect, where we need to protect, is very important. There wouldn’t be any uses here that wouldn’t follow all strict guidelines to make sure they’re adequately and safely able to do what they need to do in order to deliver good jobs and economic growth in our community,” she said. “…We’ve been working with a group for over a year who are looking at acquiring property A, they do manufacture and they’re in the renewable energy space. …It would be a project that would have a Six Nations partnership component to it and has definitely been involved throughout the development of this initiative, in consultation with municipal staff throughout the process.”
“This is an exciting project for the County of Brant as it’s retaining what has been an employer here for a very long time and they’re scaling their industry,” continued Hayward. “…The facility will be designed in such a way that it won’t be like the current location where they are right now. I think part of the concern where they’re operating currently is they’re in the middle of a residential area and they don’t want to be in the middle of a residential area anymore. They want to be in an area where it’s designated by the County for employment lands.”
When Bell later pointed out that there were no plans for a stormwater management facility, Burlock said one wasn’t required for a zone change application, but that it was an item that will be addressed and finalized at a later date.
Vink later confirmed that a stormwater management study would have been done later during the site plan stage.
Following discussions surrounding parking, splitting the zoning into M3 and M1 or M2, the lack of road structure, the lack of agricultural impact assessment, and the importance of being good neighbours, the item was later received as information.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
