more than 2,100 signatures in a\u00a0petition<\/a>\u00a0that asks the city to hit pause on the project.<\/p>\nThe petition raised environmental, power consumption and transparency concerns regarding the proposed Yates Avenue facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile economic development and investment in technology can bring important opportunities to our city, projects of this scale should not move forward without appropriate safeguards, transparency, and meaningful public consultation,\u201d the petition states.<\/p>\n
Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said the project meets two of the city’s goals: diversifying the local economy and creating new jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe land was vacant for more than 20 years, and turning surplus land into a revenue-generating asset that adds new jobs is a welcome development for all taxpayers,\u201d the mayor said by email.<\/p>\n
The proposal could result in Toronto-based cybersecurity firm Protexxa building a 100,000 to 160,000 square foot facility on an 8.39 acre parcel along the industrial lane.<\/p>\n
While the project could bring upwards of a thousand new jobs to the city, the petition calls for city council to halt development until \u201cresidents have the information, protections, regulations, and meaningful public consultation necessary to ensure responsible development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shoemaker said the project will bring a minimum of 200 jobs and the potential for 1,000 once the centre is fully operational.<\/p>\n
In December, city council authorized the sale of the lands to Protexxa, in partnership with Missinabie Cree First Nation, for the project.<\/p>\n
A global company, Protexxa is a business-to-business, software-as-a-service cybersecurity platform that utilizes AI to identify, evaluate, and resolve cyber issues for employees.<\/p>\n
In his statement, Shoemaker said the project is \u201cnot a large-scale facility, and will require less than five-per-cent of the city\u2019s total power availability, comparable to \u201cwhat is used by other commercial or institutional businesses and facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPUC is also developing a new transmission station next to the Protexxa site, which will bring 10MW of new power online for the company\u2019s longer-term needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Environmental impacts are something people are \u201cunderstandably concerned about,\u201d the mayor said, noting the city circulated the proposal to PUC Services Inc. and the Sault Ste. Marie Region Conservation Authority for review.<\/p>\n
Organized by Sydney Pressel-McMenemy, the petition calls for comprehensive environmental, energy, noise, and community impact information to be made available, as well as opportunities for public consultation before the project moves ahead.<\/p>\n
It also calls for bylaws governing data centres to be passed ahead of further progress and examining whether Yates Avenue is the appropriate location for the facility, among other concerns.<\/p>\n
Pressel-McMenemy\u2019s petition raises concerns about the centre\u2019s potential power and water consumption, noting such facilities \u201ccan require substantial amounts of electricity to operate servers, cooling systems, and other infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a time when communities around the world are working to reduce emissions and prepare for increasing energy demands, Sault Ste. Marie residents should know how this facility would be powered, what its expected environmental footprint would be, and whether renewable or low-carbon energy and energy-efficient technologies would be incorporated into its operation,\u201d the petition states.<\/p>\n
A 30-metre vegetated buffer adjacent to Wallace Terrace, north of the Yates Avenue site, will remain under city ownership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat buffer was originally established to separate residential uses on Wallace Terrace from industrial activity on Yates Avenue,\u201d Shoemaker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsistent with that, direct vehicle access to the site from Wallace Terrace will not be permitted \u2013 Wallace Terrace is not a truck route, and a creek separates the property from any possible driveway connection there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Protexxa has indicated it will explore snow-based cooling in addition to water, which could reduce electricity and water demand, with city staff committed to exploring additional power-saving measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaff will also work with Protexxa to explore waste-heat recovery opportunities for nearby industrial or commercial users, and other measures that align with the city’s net-zero by 2050 goal,\u201d Shoemaker said.<\/p>\n
Despite the concerns, the petition states it is not a \u201crejection\u201d of technology, jobs, or economic development, recognizing the project could bring benefits to the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, economic development should not come at the expense of environmental responsibility, neighbourhood quality of life, or public trust,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce a major industrial development is established, addressing problems after the fact can be far more difficult than preventing them in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An online petition with more than 2,100 signatures calls for the city to pause plans on the proposed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-834375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}