Sarnia council is supporting future projects at the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park in the city's Development Area 2 (DA2) Secondary Plan.
Council amended the land zoning from light industrial to heavy industrial before adopting the document, which forms part of the city's Official Plan, on Monday.
Councillor Terry Burrell felt the change was necessary.
"I agree that what they intend to do is be the incubator and to do the heavy lifting elsewhere," said Burrell. "But there may be times when they are doing something, in the process of getting the projects launched, that they may have to incur some of these requirements that are under the umbrella of heavy industrial."
When making the request in October 2023, the park's Executive Director Katherine Albion told council a new industrial research facility was being explored.
"So, I think that I am going to put my trust in them," Burrell continued. "That they're going to be responsible to the community in doing this and [I] ask council to grant them the heavy industrial designation that they're requesting."
While council unanimously approved the zoning change, surrounding land use compatibility issues were not addressed.
Councillor Anne Marie Gillis said the report indicated the current property, on the south side of Wellington Street, was adequately buffered from existing or proposed land uses.
"In [the consultant's] very informative report, he spoke to the fact that when the research park was first planned it did have to go through rigorous environmental controls and also had to prove that it would be well within the purview of not being a heavy industrial site proponent," said Gillis.
Gillis said the planning report completely covered everything council was concerned about.
"In other words, it would be light industrial, but it would not be emitting the kind of noxious fumes, odours, vibrations and water pollution that one would expect from a business and research park," Gillis said.
Mayor Mike Bradley, who serves as board chair of the County of Lambton Community Development Corporation (CLCDC), which owns the property, believed using the word "heavy" was perhaps the wrong terminology.
"There's no intention to do that and we're very, very, sensitive to having a good mix in the park. The whole idea is to graduate those projects down to ARLANXEO, or down to TransAlta, or to some other true heavy industrial site," said Bradley.
Sarnia News Today reached out to Albion Tuesday for reaction to the decision.
"We welcome the flexibility of the designation so that we continue to grow our research capabilities and develop land to host research and demonstration companies to further diversify and strengthen the local industrial sectors," Albion said in an email.