MILFORD STATION: Some councillors feel there is no Atlantic Gateway opportunity at all, while others think East Hants has hit the big leagues.

At the July 20 executive committee of council meeting, Director of Economic and Business Development JD MacCulloch presented a brief report on the upcoming year’s business plan for the intermodal Inland Port opportunity in Milford station.

Deputy Warden Jim Smith said he isn’t sure how much longer he can lend his support for a project that he said isn’t showing potential.

“It’s no secret I haven’t been a supporter since day one,” he said. “I haven’t seen a business case. No one has convinced me that there is a business case here for this.”

MacCulloch disagrees. He said the project is on the verge of big changes and going ahead with a business case is crucial. He said the business plan for 2010/2011 will have four major objectives.

“We can break them down into four general areas,” said MacCulloch. “The business case development and marketing, site and project readiness, partnership development, and project management.”

Developing the business case is MacCulloch’s top priority. He said the real opportunity could present itself out of this investigation

“The business case development and marketing focuses on a refinement and enhancement of the position of the business case,” he said. “The sustainability advantage will be explored and studied with partners with the objective to enhance the East Hants business case.”

To prepare the site, MacCulloch is proposing some possible changes to the Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) and land use bylaws (LUB) to make sure possible development is eligible for the area.

“The second aspect of what we hope to do is the site and project readiness,” he said. “This will involve staff and council for consideration of amended MPS and LUB to include policy statements which will allow the Milford intermodal facility to proceed with the development agreement approach.”

Councillor John MacDonald wasn’t pleased to see changes like this proposed.

“That’s not a small thing,” he said. “That’s a lot of hoops and a lot of staff time for something we’re just looking at. I’m going to guess that we don’t change the MPS and LUBs because there might be something there in the future. There’s got to be a want and need to spend staff time on that. It’s got to be a realistic thing.”

It’s just one more way to be ready, according to MacCulloch. To attract developers and have stakeholders interested, the municipality has to be prepared, the business director said.

“They will require those types of insurances: How are we going to do it, have we looked at that, what would be involved in that, before they would express potential interest,” he said. “We want to be able to be in a position to respond to those questions.”

And, according to MacCulloch, people are looking.

“Currently shippers are asking the question, how long, how much, how green?” he said. “They are seeking cost effective, sustainable ways to get their products to market. Increased emphasis is being placed on the carbon footprint faced in moving the product along the supply chain and how that affects the products bottom line.”

East Hants has partnered with several groups and organizations investigating the Atlantic Gateway opportunities, including the University of Chicago and the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. MacCulloch will be attending several meetings and conferences to increase East Hants’ opportunities profile.

This excites Councillor Keith Rhyno, who has sat on the fence about this project since explorations into the opportunity first began. He’s glad East Hants is getting out on the world stage.

“We’re starting to look like a player on the big field,” he said. “It sounds like we’ve entered the major leagues.”

MacCulloch requested council increase the already approved $20,000 to $90,000. The extra $70,000 would come from reserves not used by his department last year and doesn’t involve any new money.

Smith said even though the money can be carried over from last year’s budget, he doesn’t support money he feels could be better spent.

“I’m not willing to spend $70,000 gallivanting the country chasing a dream that may never come true,” he said.

acameron@enfieldweeklypress.com