A concrete batch plant could be coming to Gilmour Road in Elphinstone, moving from its current location on Fitchett Road south of the Sunshine Coast Highway.
The new plant, which Gibsons Redi-Mix owner Nick Bergnach said will produce four times what the current plant is capable of producing per hour, could be ready by early fall.
Bergnach said the plan to move out of the residential area has been in the works for a number of years and the new location is closer to its gravel supplier, Elphinstone Aggregates. “We’ve outgrown the plant that we have right now,” said Bergnach, who added that the business is seeking to hire more people but encountering difficulties in part because of the shortage of affordable housing.
His business has a fleet of nine trucks as well as a line pump and broom pump, and has been operating on the Sunshine Coast since 2004, though the site has been used as a concrete plant since the sixties, before the area became primarily residential.
The Gilmour Road property would need to be rezoned to allow for the plant to relocate and a public hearing is scheduled for July 18 at 7 p.m. in Frank West Hall.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) has asked the business to install an approved water system before the new plant becomes operational, which would be formalized in a covenant. Currently the two parcels on Gilmour aren’t served by SCRD water.
Bergnach said they are still working out the details of what water supply they will pursue but said it is unlikely they will rely solely on an on-site well, if they are able to find groundwater. “There is not a concrete plant in the world that does not rely on regional water. The best wells in the world are just not going to keep up with the demand,” he said, adding they are open to using a well as a backup to the primary water source, which will likely involve hooking into Elphinstone Aggregate’s water main, which is supplied by regional water.
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, BC Hydro, Gibsons Fire Department and Sḵwxwú7mesh Nation were sent referrals and none responded with objections to the move or location. The fire department requested a hydrant be located closer to the property. The Elphinstone Advisory Planning Commission found the proposal to be “in alignment with industrial activities in the area,” and recommended that it be forwarded to the board for first reading. The SCRD also stipulated that the plant must provide a dust management plan for approval by the regional district.
Once the new plant is operational, the one on Fitchett Road will be dismantled and moved off the property. Bergnach has no plans to sell the property, however. Instead, they will be adding more homes to the area by creating 19 residential quarter-acre lots and up to 60 modular home sites. “We just see a need for it on the Coast, for some starter homes and maybe for some retired people who want to downsize,” he said.
They are waiting for final approval from the SCRD board.
“We’ve got everything we need, it’s just a matter of crossing the T’s.”
