Land severance request mushrooms into heated debate at London City Hall

A request from a local business to sever a small piece of land in southwest London mushroomed into a heated debate Tuesday night.

Shogun Maitake, which operates a hydroponic mushroom farm facility at 6188 Colonel Talbot Rd., asked city council to approve a zoning change that would allow for the severance of a small piece of land.

Owner Yoshinobu Odaira wants to expand his business to meet growing demand for locally grown organically certified mushrooms in southern Ontario, Michigan, New York and Boston.

To do that, Odaira wants to buy a 10 acre piece of land from a 45-acre lot. Such a request goes against provincial policy which opposes severing agricultural land into lots smaller than 100 acres.

The request divided London city council with some arguing in favour of allowing the zoning change and others concerned about the future impacts if it were to be allowed.

“As policy setters we set the strategic direction and the policies and rules are the tools that take us there. It’s important to look at this particular rule against severing agricultural land and understand what goals these rules are attempting to accomplish,” said Ward 6 Coun. Maureen Cassidy.

She argued the provincial policy is there to protect agriculture in the city and this request wouldn’t harm that.

Cassidy’s argument upset Ward 9 Coun. Anna Hopkins, who represents the area where the mushroom farm is located. Hopkins bristled at the idea London bend the rules.

“We’re not blindly following them (provincial policies), we are protecting our agricultural land. Size does matter. Small lots doesn’t give us the flexibility of what will happen with these lots if they are sold off in the future. We are becoming vulnerable,” Hopkins argued.

A staff recommendation to deny the severance lost on a 7-7 vote with councillors Hopkins, Jesse Helmer, Stephen Turner, Josh Morgan, Tanya Park, Mo Salih and Bill Armstrong voting to in favour of the staff recommendation and Mayor Matt Brown, councillors Cassidy, Michael van Holst, Phil Squire, Paul Hubert, Harold Usher and Jared Zaifman voting against it. Coun. Virginia Ridley was absent.

Helmer suggested there was another route Shogun Maitake could take.

“He just needs to buy the 45-acre lot, he wants to buy a 10-acre lot, buy the 45-acre lot,” he said.

A motion put forward by Hopkins to have staff work with Odaira to look at other options, including buying a larger piece of land, lost on a 6-8 vote.

Odaira wrote to city council, urging them to allow the zoning change.

“I love London and want to make this the headquarters for green produce production not only mushrooms but green produce year round,” he wrote. “I believe this council if it wants to support Shogun Maitake Canada Ltd and small businesses can grant this simple request.”

Odaira says he has invested $5 million in the company, which employs 13 people.

Council’s inability to make a decision leaves them in a precarious position. The tie vote means the issue will come back to council in two weeks, but Wednesday marks the 120-day deadline for council to make a decision on the application.

That opens the door for Odaira to take the matter directly to the Ontario Municipal Board instead. If the OMB were to accept the zone change, city council would be unable to stop it.