WINNIPEG — Amber Reitmeier has lived on Dugald Road her entire life and was closer than most last year when the massive explosion at Speedway International rocked Winnipeg.
Her home is right in the middle of the Mission Industrial Neighbourhood, which encompasses a large part of St. Boniface.
The Speedway fire prompted the creation of a city report released Friday that looks at separating industry from residential homes.
The report pinpoints more than two dozen other “High Hazard Occupancy” businesses in the Mission Industrial Neighbourhood, some of them right in homeowners’ backyards.
“The long-term plan is to put distance between heavy industrial use with environmental licences and existing residential use,” St. Boniface Coun. Dan Vandal told Global News Friday. “The first priority for me is to establish who’s responsible to do followup and inspection of those with an environmental licence.”
The proposal suggests keeping new high-risk industry away from homes and offers incentives to encourage established businesses to downsize or move.
Luc Turenne of Western Industrial Services said Friday that while his company doesn’t deal with hazardous materials, there is always some risk when people live close to industry and its heavy traffic.
He’s on board with part of the plan, but for most businesses, including his, moving is not a feasible option, he said.
“There has been a lot of time and effort put in (to these businesses), so just to think we can stop and change or move is not realistic.”
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