Business View Magazine | September 2019

177 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2019 In addition, South Stormont would have been home to ten of the “Lost Villages,” which were flooded in 1958 to create the St. Lawrence Seaway: Maple Grove, Mille Roches, Moulinette, Sheek’s Island in Cornwall Township; and Aultsville, Dickinson’s Landing, Farran’s Point, Santa Cruz, Wales, and Woodlands in Osnabruck Township. Today, South Stormont is the fastest growing municipality in southeastern Ontario, and according to Mayor Bryan McGillis, an excellent place for the establishment of new businesses because of its strategic location along the St. Lawrence River, Highway 401, and Canada’s rail corridor. South Stormont is only an hour away from Ottawa and Montreal, and with international crossings to the U.S. in Cornwall, 10 minutes to the east, and Johnstown, 30 minutes to the west, there are over 100 million consumers within a day’s drive of the Township. “Our location is second to none,” McGillis states. “And that makes it very easy to do business here. We have two industrial parks with land available, and another privately-owned piece of property, north of Long Sault, which is zoned industrial; therefore we have tremendous opportunities for development.” In order to attract even more business, South Stormont is also working on an expansion of its wastewater treatment plant in Ingleside. “Developers are waiting at the door, but there isn’t enough sewer capacity in that community, right now,” explains Planning Director, Peter Young. “We have completed the environmental assessment and we’re working on the design of the plant and have submitted funding applications with the provincial and federal governments. It’s going to kick-start growth in that community, allow for more business expansion, and create more jobs through construction and potential new businesses coming in, so this expansion will promote residential development, as well. This will be one of our biggest projects over the next five years.” For businesses currently in the Township, South Stormont’s CIP (Community Improvement Plan) has offered matching grants to help with expansions and renovations. “From 2014-18, our local CIP program encouraged more than $2.3 million in SOUTH STORMONT TOWNSHI P , ONTAR IO