Sarnia council is being asked to end the freeze on advancing purchase and sale agreements within the Sarnia Business and Research Park.
Mayor Mike Bradley said it has been in place for the Old London Road property since July 2020.
"Well, the fact is, there's been a freeze in that area because of a traffic study that the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario wanted," said Bradley. "That has been completed and there is active interest in those lands. We need to remind the public that the city owns close to 300 acres around the research park and this is more geared toward the end, which is closer to London Line, where we have approved the sale of land to the new Sumac Lodge."
Bradley said if the freeze was ended, staff would be able to respond to inquiries about the land. But, he doesn't expect anything would be built right away.
"It will be some time. We [have to] follow this public process if council gives its direction to end the freeze, accepting offers for purchase and sale, and from there we have to declare the land surplus, and then we go to the next step. But, we do know there's a very interested/active party in that particular piece of land," Bradley said.
The purpose of the ministry's Traffic Impact Study [TIS] was to investigate a variety of things, like the capacity and anticipated traffic volumes for the intersection at Wellington Street and Highway 40.
