Vaughan mayor cautions council about delaying decision on FedEx distribution centre

YorkRegion.com
June 25, 2014
Adam Martin-Robbins

City council has, once again, put off making a decision about a large FedEx distribution centre in west Woodbridge.

Councillors voted Tuesday to defer, until September, a decision on a re-zoning application for a property west of Hwy. 27, near Martin Grove Rd., to allow construction of a 38,000-square-metre (400,000-sq.-ft.) facility used by hundreds of trucks daily.

The move is meant to give city staff time to respond to a number of requests made by concerned area residents in the last couple of weeks.  

Those requests include installing acoustic barriers on both sides of Hwy. 27, with the one on the east side built on the city’s or region’s property and maintained by the city or region; landscaping with mature trees to create a further buffer; setting the distribution centre as far back from Hwy. 27 as possible; using full cutoff lighting and moving the proposed fuelling station farther away from Hwy. 27 or eliminating it from the plan altogether, among other things.

On June 17, councillors delayed making a decision for a week to give city staff, regional councillors, developer Di Poce Management along with representatives from FedEx and the local ratepayers’ group a chance to meet and discuss potential solutions.

Regional Councillor Michael Di Biase, who tabled the motion to defer on Tuesday, said while it’s important to attract businesses to the city, council also has to look out for the “health, quality of life and safety” of residents. 

But Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua cautioned his colleagues that delaying a decision for too long could force FedEx to abandon its plans to set up shop in Vaughan.

“The company we’re dealing with is an international company that can move elsewhere easily,” he said.

FedEx spokesperson James Anderson said in an interview Wednesday the company is committed to working with everyone involved to get the facility up and running.

“We’re pleased to continue our work with the City of Vaughan and local community members toward building a potential building for our major package distribution centre along Hwy. 27,” he said. “Our role is to be a good corporate neighbour and we will continue to work with all stakeholders to get through this process.”

The matter is slated to come back to a committee of the whole meeting in early September.