Save Lorneville: Residential Concerns Over Spruce Lake Industrial Expansion

COM X Intern

READING TIME: 4 MINUTES

The city of Saint John proposed a municipal plan in June 2024 to expand the Spruce Lake Industrial Park in Lorneville, and many residents are concerned. Currently, it is unknown what type of development will be going there. It is outlined in the proposal to develop a large section of Lorneville land, making it “pad-ready” for Heavy Industrial work, to attract new companies and investments, as well as to create employment opportunities and economic growth. There are concerns among citizens surrounding the redesignation of over 1000 acres of mature forest and over 200 acres of provincially significant wetland, on top of the heavy industrial development to be taking place 150 meters behind residents' homes that is integrated into the proposal.

Jessica Kenny/Submitted

The Spruce Lake Industrial proposal is still in development, and there has been a series of meetings since the proposal was originally launched to make amendments to the plan. The next meeting will be on April 15th for Lorneville Task Force members to gather more information.

Leah Alexander, a Lorneville resident and an avid member of the community, expressed concerns after being asked how the community would be affected by the plan:

“Lorneville has a long history of mistreatment and land misuse going back to the early 1970s with expropriation and the old dump. Lorneville is a small community with a population of approx 800; however it is extremely tight-knit and rich in history. Many families have been here for generations, my own two kids are sixth-generation Lorneville residents. This is land that was taken from families, and they watched their houses get bulldozed and were forced to move, then to watch that land that was taken sit vacant for nearly 50 years,” she expressed.

“Now some of the same families are facing the fear of heavy industrial development 150 meters behind their homes. This is one way residents will be affected, with negative impacts to their quite rural ways of life, the removal of land that is used for hunting, hiking, and in the winter ATV and snowmobile use. Every house in Lorneville is on a private well, and the land and wetland encompassed within this proposed plan act as our natural buffer and filtration system and currently protect us from the old dump site.”

Another resident of Lorneville, Chris Watson, also expressed concern about the impacts of this expansion, notably the destruction of wetlands and forests:

“What they’ll be doing is filling hundreds of acres of wetlands. All this land slopes and drains towards this residential community, and so these forests and wetlands provide extremely valuable ecological services, things like water purification, water cooling, sediment, and storm water retention.”

“It has been a huge thing to find solutions to climate change recently. These forests and wetlands are one of the primary tools that we have to fight the impacts of climate change, right? All the forests and wetlands provide mitigation measures to combat the impacts of climate change for our community, which is extremely fragile and vulnerable to climate change. When these forests and wetlands are destroyed, its going to move all of these ecological benefits that have been a provider to our community for decades. So that’s my biggest concern now, and that’s a large concern for most residents of Lorneville.”

Jessica Kenny/Submitted

Leah expressed the importance of paying attention to this issue:

“For three reasons:

The first is that this proposed plan will cost 155-220 million dollars of taxpayers' money for the construction of gravel pads, pads that will house more heavy industry that only contributes to 9% of our tax revenue (vs. 68% for residential).
Second, wetlands and mature forest are a sensitive and ever decreasing ecosystem in our area. They benefit us all as they play important roles in climate resiliency, and once they are gone they are gone forever.
And third, I strongly believe that how this plays out in Lorneville will set a precedent for how small communities within our city and province will be treated in the future. We need to stand up and hold our elected officials accountable to follow their environmental policies and to listen to the wants and concerns of their constituents.

Do we want Saint John defined by Heavy Industry or by the people that live in and love these beautiful places?”

In opposition to the expansion, residents launched a campaign that can be found online through Facebook and Instagram called ‘Save Lorneville’ or by email at savelorneville@gmail.com. This group is made available to the public, where information and resources are shared.