Flour mill owner seeks temporary alternate use

By COLLIN GALLANT on August 23, 2023.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

The new owner of the Ogilvies Flour Mill is requesting alternate use of the major central industrial site until it can be fully converted into a modern manufacturing and collaboration hub over the next several years.

Last spring, Casey Van Maarion told the News he planned to acquire the facility on Allowance Avenue for his own construction business and offer leased work space to other energy research companies.

That sale, from agri-food giant Archer Daniels Midland, was completed this month, and this week the city’s municipal planning commission will consider allowing temporary storage on the 13-acre site while renovations are underway.

The proposal, called “12Twenty2” – a reference to its address at 1222 Allowance Ave. – would see work proceed in the background on a larger redevelopment.

“We’re requesting three years, so it’s not a full-time thing, but just temporary until we can get (the mill) cleaned out,” Van Maarion told the News on Tuesday.

“It’s not a storage yard at the end of the day. I plan on working there for the rest of my life.”

His company manufactures screw piles for general construction and contracts to fill needs for large-scale solar projects. He has said local manufacturing and a collaborative approach could compete with imported goods in energy infrastructure contracts.

“We’re looking for shared development in all facets of the energy industry,” said Van Maarion, who has described a “conglomerate” approach where firms with engineering and research needs, or prototype development requirements, could partner or use the space for research or educational purposes.

The development application will be taken up by the municipal planning commission today. It asks for a limited three-year approval to store recreational vehicles and boats on portions of the site.

That would provide a non-intensive use at the high profile parcel, said Van Maarion, as well as income while redevelopment takes place in the large warehouse, two six-storey buildings and large grain silos. In total, buildings measure 200,000 square-feet at the rail-serviced location.

The whole site is zoned as a direct control district, meaning that city council will have to approve any substantial change of use.

City planners recommend a three-year time limit for rented outdoor storage that would not change the site substantially or limit future use and development.

Suggested conditions for the commission to consider would be requirements that any vehicles would need to be moved off site if a flooding emergency occurs on the nearby Seven Persons Creek.

No substantial permanent improvements would be allowed without a further development application and approval.

The site is zoned as a direct control district, meaning city council will have to approve any change of use.

The site operated as one of Medicine Hat’s first flour mills until it was closed by food giant ADM Industries in 2013, resulting in the loss of 75 jobs. At that time ADM production was centralized in Calgary.

Since then the Illinois-based company had marketed it for sale but on condition that milling not continue there.

Last winter work occurred at the site to permanently abandon a natural gas well near Allowance Avenue.

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