Transcona residents voice opposition to cement plant
CBC News | Posted: October 9, 2013 4:26 AM | Last Updated: October 9, 2013
More than 100 people gathered in Winnipeg's Transcona neighbourhood Tuesday evening to express their opposition to a cement batch plant being proposed near a recreational trail.
The community meeting at the Oxford Heights Community Club was organized by residents who don't want the City of Winnipeg to rezone a parcel of land near the Transcona Trail to allow the plant to be built there.
"I believe that there's lots of property elsewhere where they could build a plant," said Grant Reid, a lifelong resident of the area who attended Tuesday's meeting.
The city wants to rezone lots on Valde Avenue, near Gunn Road and Day Street, as heavy manufacturing lots to make way for the proposed plant.
The site is along the Transcona Trail and is adjacent to the Transcona Community Bioreserve, a former industrial plant site that has been converted to a naturalized park.
Kim Poitras, who organized the meeting and started a petition against the cement plant, said not only would the plant change the look of the neighbourhood, but dust from the facility and increased traffic would pose a risk to residents.
"It's our community," she said. "It affects us. It doesn't affect those sitting in city hall."
Poitras said more than 700 people have signed her petition to date, and she hopes concerned residents will show up at a city hall hearing on Oct. 15.