Venetian frustrated by length of process, cost of studies for new plant
Red tape blocks expansion plans
A local company looking to expand says planning delays at city hall are forcing it out of Hamilton.
Venetian Meat and Salami has been dry-curing hot Genoa salami and other products on Burlington Street since 1957, and at the home of its founders before that. The company has designs on returning to the export market now that American regulations are changing, but needs a bigger processing plant first, a plan its owners say has been frustrated by the city for more than a year.
“The city is making this so hard, we’d be better off moving somewhere else,” said Val Dal Bello, coowner of the company with his brother Gino and sister Anna. “If I was single, I’d move to New York in a hurry.”
For the moment a stalemate exists — city officials say more studies are needed before the project can move ahead, while Venetian says it shouldn’t have to pay for them.
Moving out of Hamilton is more than an empty threat, Dal Bello said, noting he is courted regularly by American jurisdictions offering incentives to lure his firm and 17 jobs south of the border.
“We want to export, but we’re at capacity and can’t make no more product here,” he said. “We already have to cut some orders short by up to half.”
A decade ago, the company sent 20 per cent of its annual production to the American market.
Longtime customers have been understanding about production problems, he added, but that patience won’t last forever. The plant has been expanded three times over the years, but there’s no more room for another addition.
Dal Bello said Venetian has a piece of land in the Barton Street-Lewis Road area of Stoney Creek that would support its plan for a 38,000-square-foot plant with 24,000 square feet of processing space. That’s more than double its 16,000-square-foot location on Burlington Street East near Gage Avenue North.
The family’s frustration with city hall has two sparks — Venetian completed an expensive flood plain assessment of its proposed site, only to have the data rejected by city planners and another costly study of a broader area ordered.
Now, Dal Bello said, he has been told the company will have to pay for ditches around the entire property to properly drain the land. That’s work he says the city should pay for because it benefits the entire area, not just Venetian.
“Before we even get a shovel in the ground we’re looking at $500,000 in costs,” he said. “In the U.S. they come to us and ask us what we need and offer wage subsidies for the first few years.”
To date he estimated the company has spent $60,000 on studies since the middle of 2015 and it’s still no closer to getting started on its new home.
“We were hoping that by this time, the place would be in operation, but we’re still stalled,” he said.
Dan Dorigiolo, Anna’s son, said the family has also been frustrated by what they see as a lack of communication by city officials.
“You can’t get a straight answer out of anybody at city hall,” he said. “There’s very little communication within the city.”
Neil Everson, the city’s director of economic development, and Norm Schleehahn, its manager of busi- ness development, are sympathetic with Dal Bello’s frustration but say there’s little they can do because the land the family wants to build on is in a designated flood plain.
“This property is entirely within a flood plain so we can’t just wave a magic wand and say go ahead,” Everson said. “Building a new plant or retrofitting an existing building is a long process and if you don’t do it right, it can prove to be very expensive.”
“Some complex engineering and planning studies have to be done to make this possible,” Schleehahn added. “We’re trying to work with them to make this happen.”
They added the Venetian issue points to an ongoing obstacle to efforts to spur Hamilton’s economy: a lack of available land or vacant industrial buildings. The city’s industrial vacancy rate is about two per cent.
Even if a suitable building were available, Everson added, it would be difficult to retrofit it for a food business.
Ann Lamanes, communications officer for the planning department, denied there have been delays on the city’s part. She says any delays i n processing Venetian’s plan resulted because “the owner did not and has not provided the required information that was identified in June 2015 for a complete application; therefore, we cannot move forward on this.”
Paying for the studies is the applicant’s responsibility, she added.
Brenda Johnson, ward councillor for the area Venetian wants to move to, and chair of the planning committee, did not return calls seeking comment.