Residents are fighting with RM, the developer, to develop the proposed facility

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A proposal to build a pharmaceutical factory near a small trailer park community is being met with outrage and anger from those who believe the plans will spoil their quiet rural neighborhood.

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“It would change the appearance of the neighborhood, the sense of neighborhood. It would have made all the difference,” said 46-year-old Jeffrey Barrett.

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It would be like saying, “One of them is not like the others.”

Barrett lives at Pine Ridge Trailer Park, 20 kilometers north of Winnipeg, off RM 59 in St. Clements and not far from Bird Hill Provincial Park.

He said residents were “shocked” last week when they received notice that Mittal plans to build a roughly 20,000-square-foot pharmaceutical plant for insulin and naloxone on a vacant lot near the Canadian trailer park.

Barrett said from the plans he's seen, the plant would be about 500 meters from the trailer park and would completely change the look of hundreds of residents' yards and homes.

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“I can see the field from my house, and it's been an extension of the neighborhood for years,” Barrett said. “People walk and walk their dogs outside.

“If they wanted to build a house or housing, it would be a completely different situation, but that's not what we're talking about. We are talking about a huge factory with smokestacks and tall buildings.'

Barrett said most of his neighbors think the area is the wrong place for such a project, and he doesn't think anyone against the plant should be accused of being a NIMBY (Not In My Backyard).

“This is not a NIMBY story at all,” he said. “This place is zoned agricultural, so when people moved here, they never imagined in a million years that one day there could be a big factory next to our houses.”

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The land has already been sold to Mittal Canada by St. Clements RM and the company's next step will be to seek approval from the RM to rezone the land as an industrial zone.

The Winnipeg San St. Clements Mayor Debbie Fiebelkorn has been reached for comment, but the RM said they have no comment to offer at this time.

Barrett said the next step for objecting residents will be to attend any and all public meetings for the project and “make enough noise” in hopes of convincing the RM not to approve the plant's rezoning.

“I think they have a lot of other options, there's a lot of land here, I'm not against the project itself, I think it's necessary,” he said. “It's just the wrong place.”

Residents say the concerns go beyond the look and rural feel of the area, as trailer park resident Shane Scott, 40, says there are concerns about pollution and noise pollution during and after construction, as well as increased traffic in the area. potential impacts to wildlife and the environment in the area and nearby Bird Hill Provincial Park.

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Mittal Canada is the parent company of Greenwoods Dental Centre, which operates three dental facilities in Winnipeg. Winnipeg San on Tuesday, Greenwood Dental Center owner Dr. D.K. Mittal was reached by phone but said neither he nor the company would comment.

In a video posted online about the company's project, they said the land was an ideal location for the plant.

“There is a reliable sewage infrastructure in the plot. Continuous wastewater management and regulatory compliance are essential, allowing us to focus on innovation and manufacturing excellence,” the video says.

According to the company, the plant will create about 1,000 new jobs in the area.

An online change.org petition opposing the project, created by Pine Ridge resident Nicole Goossen, had more than 1,350 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

“It will be more dangerous for us to go to work due to the increase in the traffic of heavy vehicles due to the operation of the factory. The streets where our children and grandchildren play freely may no longer be safe or peaceful,” the petition reads.

“Our backyards, where we spend quiet time with family and friends, will be overshadowed by this huge plant.”

— Dave Baxter is a local journalism initiative reporter based out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Indigenous Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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