Richard Lake industrial warehouse gets city approval despite pleas from residents

Residential and industrial needs clashed at Monday's planning committee meeting in Sudbury.

A request to build a contractor's yard and warehouse in the south end near Richard Lake was not met with enthusiasm by neighbours who took the mic.

Melissa Cotesta applied to rezone her industrial property to accommodate 600 square foot warehouse on Pioneer Road.

See the application - and residents' concerns - submitted to planning committee

But residents complained about already living near companies that rely on transport trucks and the noise pollution coming from nearby highways.

Angelina Tang, a resident in the neighbourhood, said that more heavy industrial traffic on Desloges Road and Pioneer Road will spoil the area's tranquility.

"People deserve a quality of life. Residential and industrial, they don't belong together. We have the right to have a quiet community," she said.

Maurizio Visentin said that allowing more industry in the area contradicts the city's aim to protect its fragile ecosystems.

"Richard Lake is considered to be fifth on the list of 17 lakes in the City of Greater Sudbury that are at risk," Visentin said, "so we're going to put more intensive industry, although it is warehousing in that area, with sewage within 300 metres."

In the end, the planning committee sided with the need for a new contractor's yard and warehouse.

But, the property will have to follow strict rules to mitigate the concerns in the neighbourhood and take into consideration the nearby wetlands.