Heather Wright/The Independent

A hearing date has been set by the Ontario Land Tribunal in the case of a controversial commercial operation in Wanstead. And the owner of that proposed commercial livestock trailer washing facility is now also facing charges of breaking Plympton-Wyoming bylaws.

Cornerstone Developments Owner Pat Belanger has been working with the town since 2022 on the Leyton Street properties. At first, the company received a building permit for a strawberry operation. Today, a 7,900 square-foot building with transport-truck sized doors is there. Two properties on either side of Leyton Street are slated to hold a washing station and a drying facility for trailers which haul animals.

The site would also include a closed-loop wash water treatment system which received approval through the Environmental Compliance Approvals branch of the Ministry of the Environment in Sept. 2021.

The properties are in the middle of small cluster of homes. Neighbours, who learned of the project in 2023, have been fighting to stop it.  They worry the company, which received funding from the federal government to help with bio security issues in the region, will use the truck-washing facility when combating problems such as Avian Flu. They’re concerned water wells will be affected.

After years of dealing with the issue, Belanger filed an appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal charging town council had failed to make a decision in 120 days the timeframe alloted for the process under the Ontario Planning Act.

OLT officials have set aside Feb. 19 to hear the case and could either approve or deny Belanger’s bid to place the commercial washing station in the residential area.

Belanger is now also facing two charges of using land in contravention to its permitted uses.

Neighbours have said commercial traffic is already using the facility without the proper zoning approvals. The charges were laid against Belanger personally and the Pat Belanger Corporation, according to court documents.

Belanger’s lawyer appeared briefly in the Provincial Offences Court in Lambton by video Thursday. The matter returns to court March 5.