Pattullo Ridge business park has been popular choice for industrial growth
Hino, Harvan, Hyland & Hawkins have all found success in commercial area on south side of 401
By
Mark Schadenberg
The City of Woodstock wants to expand its horizons, push the envelope a
little further, stretch its limits, and think outside the current defined lines.
Woodstock has begun to communicate once again with Norwich Township on
the idea of expanding the boundaries of Woodstock – not for residential
purposes, but for industrial / commercial.
The Pattullo Ridge commercial park could be growing by about 200 acres.
Woodstock Mayor Trevor Birtch, who also sits on county council for Oxford
will be part of a committee including city council members Shawn Shapton and
Connie Lauder, CAO David Creery, and economic development office commissioner
Len Magyar. Woodstock will soon begin the negotiating process with Norwich as
the City of Woodstock has a desire to expand the Pattullo Ridge business park.
The Norwich contingent will include its mayor Larry Martin for certain. The
Ward 4 councillor of Norwich is Wayne Buchanan, so he would certainly have
input on the timeline as would CAO Kyle Kruger.
In a Sentinel-Review story from earlier in May, Martin notes that it was
expected this boundary discussion would occur.
“We’re
always willing to talk,” Martin said to The Sentinel-Review. “Mayor Birtch and
myself have been conversing back and forth ever since the election. We knew
this was going to happen, we just weren’t sure how soon, but apparently it’s
now and we’re prepared to negotiate.”
The fact Woodstock is eyeing additional acreage for industrial use is not
new news as before the 2014 municipal election there was preliminary discussion
surrounding the same idea, but once both councils became a ‘lame duck’ as the
election time period approached, the idea was put back on the shelf until now.
Addition at HINO MOTORS is underway
What is most certainly interesting is that media reports do not indicate
the exact piece(s) of property Woodstock is considering, and Norwich give no
indication on the price(s) to be paid by Woodstock.
The idea is to have more ‘shovel-ready’ property in amounts in excess of
50 acres if the phone rings at City Hall and a major employer asks about
possibilities and probabilities of locating in the Pattullo park.
Birtch was quoted in a story on the Heart FM website about the fact
additional employment for Woodstock will benefit everyone in Oxford – not just
Woodstock and Norwich Township.
"It would allow us the opportunity to look for
new businesses, new factories, or commercial opportunities to invest in Oxford
County right here in Woodstock at the crossroads of the 401 and the 403,"
said Birtch.
Here’s my link dating back to Oct. 31, 2013, on my thoughts then
(http://markroyallepage.blogspot.ca/2013/10/woodstock-hopes-to-accumulate-land-from.html),
which continue to be mostly the same today.
I believe the expansion of Woodstock must be tempered at a slow pace to
ensure that the vast majority of farmland continues to be farmland, and that if
the City of Woodstock has ownership of these new lands inside the boundaries it
truly controls the per acre cost to corporations who may be interested in
setting up shop in Woodstock and Oxford. In other words, if speculators and
developers owned all the parcels of possible future commercial parks, the
asking price would not attract new businesses.
A former farm house now sits vacant
just east of Patullo Ridge commercial park
View of 401 from Pattullo Road just east of current city limits
The City of Woodstock, by the way, most certainly receives a premium on
any commercial zoned land it sells with visibility and quick access to the 401
/ 403.
I also think – my opinion here – that the time has most certainly arrived
to include the land where the former OPP station was to be accumulated inside
city limits, which is therefore Highway 2 (Dundas Street) on the south side of
Toyota to County Road 4 to Parkinson Road to the 401 to Towerline Road. The
triangle of land is drawn out here.
_______________
A Few Patullo Ridge Businesses:
Harvan Engineering, Nova Steel, Execulink, Pow Laboratories,
Kerry Canada, Hino Trucks, Brant Form Teck, Contrans / Laidlaw, Sean Hyland
Motorsports, North American Stamping Group . . .
_______________
Woodstock
is contemplating which property? There is a large idle-looking farm on the
south side of the 401 situated between the highway and Pattullo Road and it’s a
significant piece of real estate which Woodstock could accumulate for a
boundary adjustment. The south side of Pattullo Road – exactly across the
street from North American Stamping – would also be enticing. Keep in mind,
Norwich does not actually own these plots currently, but likely does not want to lose significant
tax income from these properties without reasonable compensation.
When
Woodstock expanded in 2005 to accommodate the Toyota manufacturing facility,
Blandford-Blenheim Township received quite a large financial benefit, which
they continue to receive today and into the future.
A Few More Patullo Ridge Businesses:
Rogers Communications, Armtec, Trigon Construction, Hunter
Steel, Trans Arctic, Vision Signs, Hawkins
Electric, Canada Mold Technology, RentQuip, Lely Canada, Armtec, A and I Products, and
others.
As can be seen buy the long list of businesses already
located in Pattullo Ridge – the business park has flourished since it was
introduced.
_______________
CommerceWay
More than 10 years ago now, the City Of Woodstock – in a minor
controversy over land values and compensation and future uses (re-zoning two
farms into industrial purposes in a master plan) – purchased the farms of the
Virtue and Bakker families through a process known as expropriation.
Those two major land acquisitions would evolve into CommerceWay business
park which is now the home to Canada Stampings, Sysco, Scholastic Book Fairs
(warehouse), Leon’s Furniture (warehouse), Canada Post, Winsafe, Miller Zell,
Ancra, TiltWall, Amico, Viewcon Construction, and a few others.
Andrew
Pattullo
According
to the well-respected local historian Doug Symons (Author of Giants Of Oxford
and Village That Straddled A Swamp), the Pattullo Ridge business park was named
after Andrew Pattullo, who the publisher of the Woodstock Sentinel-Review with
their family credited for amalgamating two local newspapers – the weekly
Sentinel and the weekly Review, and eventually creating a daily publication
back in 1886. He is a former president of The Canadian Press. Pattullo was also
a former member of provincial parliament. The fountain in museum square still
bears his names as it was paid for by the Pattullo family.
LINKS:
May 12, 2016 in S-R
2014 S-R Story
October of 2013
July
of 2013
Mark Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
