BONNYVILLE - M.D. of Bonnyville council approved a development permit for a size variance for the property used by LSC Industrial.
Located two miles north of La Corey on Township Road 634, until now the business has been renting land from Jarl and Chelsey Groothuysen, who live and farm elsewhere on the property.
“Any improvements that they would like to do, whether it's to the yard or to the buildings, they would like to invest in something that they own, which makes sense,” said Jarl Groothuysen.
According to Groothuysen, the company hauls water in and the family’s well would still be on their side of the new property line. There are also plans to acquire the rest of the quarter in the next 12 months.
“We would be working with the development team to either amalgamate. We'd be looking at having the remainder of the quarter. It's just that there's timelines and process and this is the first thing that's being presented,” said Groothuysen.
Ward 4 Coun. Don Slipchuk was concerned the 20-acre requirement might be a deterrent to potential business start-ups, but according to administration “most of the major rural industrial businesses would be a discretionary use anyway, which would mean it would be brought to council.”
Ward 1 Coun. Josh Crick made a motion to approve the variance from 20 acres to six acres. The motion was carried.