The Signs of Economic Confidence, Opportunity Knocks.

Construction, Demolition Permits Up In Sarnia-Lambton.


From Melanie Irwin, Blackburn News.


Millions in renovations to Great Lakes Secondary School and demolition plans at Imperial boosted Sarnia’s construction activity last month.

City hall issued 66 permits worth just over $30-million in October.

A $21.7-million permit was issued for an addition to the high school at 340 Murphy Rd.

Great Lakes Secondary will have a new auditorium, indigenous community room, updated classrooms and accessibility improvements.

Link to the rest here.

Image: Zach Neal. The old Colborne Hotel gets a facelift.

Biochem Having Good Year in Sarnia-Lambton.

From Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer.

Efforts to grow a green branch in Sarnia-Lambton’s Chemical Valley are having a good year.

News this past week that Waterloo startup company, Advanced Chemical Technologies, wants to build a commercial-scale demonstration plant at TransAlta’s Bluewater Energy Park in Sarnia was the latest in a string of recent announcements by “green” industries with plans to set up shop in the community.

“It has been a very exciting year,” said Sandy Marshall, executive director of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, a government-funded agency based in Sarnia that helps young sustainable chemistry and bio-based companies move new technology to the market.

It’s working along with Advanced Chemical Technologies as it attempts to open a plant that will use industrial carbon dioxide emissions, in addition to natural gas, water and electricity, to produce methanol with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.

The plan is to show the technology can be economical, and then build a larger commercial plant in Chemical Valley.

Link to the rest here.

Image: Zach Neal. The BioAmber plant on Vidal St. South.


After Seventeen Years, Holmes Foundry Site Up For Sale.


Cathy Dobson, The Sarnia Journal.

Ray Lariviere is celebrating the end of a convoluted court case that has finally allowed the former Holmes Foundry property to be listed for sale.

An Ontario Supreme Court decision means a key 16-acre property marking the entrance to Ontario can now be developed.

The court settlement is sealed and the details confidential. But the critical question of ownership has finally been resolved after 17 years of legal wrangling.

Lariviere is a director with Gateway Inc., the company selling the property. He was also a director with its predecessor, the D’Andrea Group, which no longer exists. He is also one of 20 family and friends defrauded in 1999 by local realtor and one-time Holmes Foundry owner John D’Andrea.

D’Andrea served jail time for assembling the investors group and defrauding its members of half its value.

Seeing a ‘For Sale’ sign go up after all these years is gratifying but also upsetting, said Lariviere.

Link to the rest here.

Image: Google Maps. The 16-acre site via satellite.

Thank you for reading.