Friday, September 12, 2003
Frank Armstrong
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The Kingston Whig-Standard
Kingston politicians will decide tonight whether they will pave the way for the development of a high-class business park in the city's west end.
In a report to council, the city's top administrator recommends the municipality sign a deal that would give local developer Kincore Holdings Ltd. the exclusive right to develop the first buildings on land at Norman Rogers Airport and set the standard for the rest of the development. "We wanted to have the exclusive opportunity to build on either side of them, both to protect the investment we make in the building, but also ... to recognize the opportunity that comes by virtue of setting the high standard and being the leader in getting the park going," Kim Donovan, Kincore's president, said yesterday.
The first building, in the centre of the development, will house Millenium Biologix, a fast-growing local biomedical company on Midpark Drive. Kincore has asked for a long-term lease on 10 acres of the land between Hampton Gray Gate, Front Road and Len Birchall Way. This municipally owned land is now being surveyed and could be anywhere from 15 to 20 acres. The details of the lease haven't been worked out yet, but it could run anywhere from 50 to 100 years.
Under its lease agreement with the city, Kincore would receive a parcel of up to four acres at market value to allow for the construction of the Millenium Biologix building. In addition, Kincore has asked the city for a five-year exclusive option to develop up to six more acres. Anyone else who wants to build on the land will have to follow special design guidelines.
In order for councillors to approve CAO Bert Meunier's recommendation, they must first follow a bureaucratic process demanded by the Municipal Act. It requires the land to be declared surplus to municipal needs and then available for lease. Tonight's decision is one of four major hurdles the development must overcome at council. Still to come is approval of the design guidelines and Millenium Biologix's formal plan. The first hurdle was cleared in June, when the planning committee approved the rezoning of the property.
Plans for the west-end business park began brewing after talks between Millenium Biologix and Steve Kelly, president and CEO of Kingston Economic Development Corp. Millenium Biologix president Sydney Pugh told Kelly the company needed bigger quarters. Kelly convinced Pugh and Vice-president Tim Smith that the company could grow here. Other home-grown firms have reluctantly abandoned Kingston because they couldn't find an appropriate space. "We want to be able to create an environment where the successful companies can stay in Kingston and grow their product lines and manufacture the product and successfully sell it here," Donovan said.
Millenium, which develops and supplies products for repairing and replacing bone and skeletal tissue, employs 40 people in Kingston, Toronto and Zurich.
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