Budd Lands Remain Industrial
Posted Sep 25, 2012 01:15:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Kitchener council has their fingers crossed that a longer term vision for the former Budd factory lands pays off in the future.
Council voted 8-3 at Monday night’s meeting to keep those 123 acres zoned for industrial use, rejecting a developers proposal to turn 28 acres into a big-box retail development.
President of the Greater KW Chamber of Commerce Ian McLean tells 570 News despite the fact 1,000 new jobs the development would have created won’t happen, council made the right move.
McLean says the City of Kitchener, and Waterloo Region as a whole, has a shortage of industrial lands. He says in order to continue to have a diverse and robust local economy a strong industrial and manufacturing base is needed.
McLean says having industrial land available for industry, which is becoming more and more high tech, is important to attract a big company to town. He says the traditionally higher paying jobs will be better in the long run, if the right tenant can be found.
It shoul be noted that council reached the same decision earlier this month when they refused to allow a mosque to set up in the Huron Business Park.
