A fresh start: sault redeveloper acquires former red rock mill..

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: NORTH SHORE

The redevelopers of a former Sault Ste. Marie paper mill have acquired another shuttered forest operation property on the north shore of Lake Superior.

Riversedge Developments has picked up the former Norampac linerboard mill in Red Rock and plan to start clearing and cleaning up the site for future development.

The company closed the deal on the vast 600-acre property with the Township of Red Rock on April 26.

Riversedge CEO Justus Veld-man said his team isn't arriving in town with any preconceived ideas or definitive plans on what should be done with the 60-year-old brown-field site.

He just wants to start remediation this year and make it "shovel-ready"

And he's asking Red Rock residents for their input on what should be built there.

"It has to be driven by the local community We cannot dictate what could or should happen on that site. We are facilitators of the conversation."

The mill has been closed since 2006. leaving 300 people out of work.

The property was sold to North American Logistics in 2007, which had designs on reopening the mill to manufacture hardwood flooring underlay. When those plans fell through, the company stripped the premises of all its machinery.

The redevelopers of a former Sault Ste. Marie paper mill have acquired another shuttered forest operation property on the north shore of Lake Superior.

Riversedge Developments has picked up the former Norampac linerboard mill in Red Rock and plan to start clearing and cleaning up the site for future development.

The company closed the deal on the vast 600-acre property with the Township of Red Rock on April 26.

Riversedge CEO Justus Veld-man said his team isn't arriving in town with any preconceived ideas or definitive plans on what should be done with the 60-year-old brown-field site.

He just wants to start remediation this year and make it "shovel-ready"

And he's asking Red Rock residents for their input on what should be built there.

"It has to be driven by the local community We cannot dictate what could or should happen on that site. We are facilitators of the conversation."

The mill has been closed since 2006. leaving 300 people out of work.

The property was sold to North if that's not what comes out of the discussion."

Veldman admits 1t-11 be an expensive undertaking to clean up the site since the mill buildings contain asbestos.

But in the weeks ahead. the plan is to work with the Ministry of Environment (MOE) to evaluate the amount of remediation that's to take...