Sarnia

the summer of 2012 to the summer of 2016,KmX Corporation operated a pilot plant,to commercialize membrane technologies that filter industrial process wastewater. Alongwith the fewbio-economycompa- niesmentioned,there are a number of others at the Research Parkand looking at Sarnia as a primary site location for their future.Alsowithin Lambton county, a strong partner with Sarnia,there is BIOX,a biodiesel facility,and Forge,a newstart up locating in the coun- ty,also focused on biodiesel; Suncor has the largest ethanol facility in Canada; and Enbridgemanages one of the largest Canadian Solar Farms here and an inno- vative farming community that formed the CSPCoop to partner with Comet to build a sugar mill from their corn stover. “These are innovative companies that are be- ing borne out of incubators that are here in Sarnia,” Misek-Evans states.“TheWestern Sarnia-Lambton Research Park is the largest incubator for clean tech products in Canada.So,companies are graduating- which is exactlywhat this research park is intended to do: to incubate from laboratory tomarket.It’s veryex- citing that these companies are choosing to stayhere and become commercial entities within Sarnia,once theyhave developed their technologywell enough to commercialize it.” As the business environment in Sarnia continues to evolve,the city is alsomoving steadily into the future with a vibrant redevelopment,communityengage- ment,and sustainable practices agenda.One success story,according toMisek-Evans,is the repurposing and redevelopment of two cityblocks that used to be home to the Sarnia General Hospital,whichwas vacated in 2012,and had been sitting vacant as a deteriorating brownfield sitewithin amature and established neighborhood.Misek-Evans reports, “Last year,after issuing a second RFP,wewere successful in garnering the interest of five local businessmen–they SARNIA, ONTARIO www.emterra.ca |@EmterraGroup www.revitalpolymers.com Creating jobs & solutions for a low carbon, circular economy in Sarnia & beyond. PHOTO: GFIVE INC./ LEANN COTTON PHOTOGRAPHY call themselves the GFive Group–and have entered into a public/private partnership to get those buildings remediated and torn down and then redeveloped. With the city’s investment of $5.35million,dedicated toward remediation and demolition,the GFive Group will take on all of the risks of obtaining the regulatory approvals,doing the demolition,and then redevelop- ing those two cityblocks into a productivemixed-use community.” “BaysideMall in the downtown core,which is sitting on about nine acres of city-owned land,was in receiv- ership four years ago.Developed back in the 1980s,it has not kept upwith the times,”she continues.“But out of that process of receivership and couple of owners in and out,Season’s Retirement Communities,has acquired the site and has ambitious plans to repurpose themall space and also build two residential towers –one oriented towards both independent seniors and the general publicmarket,and the other as in- dependent supportive living andmemorycare suites for seniors.That will be a huge shot in the arm for the downtown.Thismall is a big anchor piece in the downtown and it will benefit greatly from this type of development.” Also on the City’s agenda isMitton Street Village, a small community just southeast of downtown.“It’s fallen on hard times and it’s got a lot of vacancies,”says Misek-Evans.“The former hospital anchors one end of that village and an older high school that’s being surplused anchors the other end.So,we’re trying to get the communityconversation started therewith a lot of uptake and input from local residents and developers on howbest to rejuvenate that neighborhood.Sarnia is a verycaring communityand it comes together when