Cathy Dobson/The Independent

Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey supports the Cargill Sarnia Grain Terminal’s controversial Ministerial Zoning Order application to prohibit residential land uses within 300 metres of its Exmouth Street terminal.

The application is still waiting for response from Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, said Bailey at the Sarnia-Lambton Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Feb. 19.

If the MZO is approved, two significant residential developments won’t be able to go forward including a condominium high rise on the Sarnia waterfront and a very large townhouse development announced three years ago in Point Edward.

“I don’t think any kind of residential is going to work there,” Bailey said, referring to 23 acres in Point Edward that are directly across the street from Cargill and where a numbered company has proposed hundreds of residential housing units.

Cargill’s Sarnia terminal handles about 35 per cent of Ontario’s export grain and is important to the agricultural industry, Bailey said.

The company has said that noise, dust, odour and vibrations from its operation conflict with proposed residential development.

Bailey agrees.

“If I paid $200,000 or $300,000 for a condo, I wouldn’t want to have a lot of dust and noise,” he said Thursday.  The initial buyers might agree to it, but what about subsequent owners, Bailey said.

“I can see Cargill buying (the Point Edward acreage) themselves,” he added.  “They could buy that for marshaling their trucks or building another facility there and then…the developer wouldn’t be out totally.”

Bailey said he recognizes that Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley and Point Edward Mayor Bev Hand value the tax dollars that residential development would generate for their municipalities.

“I’ve tried to stay as neutral as I can because I have to represent Point Edward and the city (of Sarnia) and I have to represent the agricultural community as well,” Bailey said.

“But these condos are probably not a good fit.”