Breagen Jamieson speaks to town council on Monday night. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Chem Storage

Agriculture chemical storage business approved by Battleford Council

Jun 17, 2025 | 5:00 PM

“You’re too damn close for my comfort.”

That statement was made by a resident who lives near the Battleford industrial park that will eventually see a 6,000-square-foot agricultural chemical sales and warehouse storage facility erected after the application was approved by town council Monday night.

Breagen Jamieson initially brought his proposal for what will become 1 Acre Solutions LTD before the council in May. At the time, he had received support for zoning due to concerns about safety and the environment.

He explained he had written approval by the Agrichemical Warehousing Standards Association (AWSA) standards, which needed to be followed in order to build on the site that runs adjacent to Highway 40 and will be located at 502-22 St.

“I need to follow, of course, local fire suppression – I need proper ventilation; the concrete obviously has a sump in the building, so any kind of spills that do happen are taken care of,” he said.

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“There’s also going to be proper lighting of course, and it is a warehouse, so it’s not a full chem retail – I wanna make sure that’s clear.”

The building, Jamieson articulated, had to be built to AWSA specifications according to their safety protocols and their building site approval. After which, they will conduct audits every two years.

“Any concerns, I just want to make sure those are brought forward to any residents that do have any concerns to that traffic will be very light, as I said, it’s not a retail site, it’s a storage facility,” said the businessman.

“So, there will be staff onsite occasionally, not full time, and it’s a great location, and I want to bring this to the Battlefords because it is a very large agriculture hub for the northwest.”

Following the presentation, Councillor Shelley Boutin-Gervais asked whether Jamieson expected much traffic, to which he replied in the negative.

“It’s hard to say the amount, but I’d be lucky to see a semi a week,” he said.

“In the busy season, yes, you could see the odd truck coming in and out more so but not all hours of the night or anything.”

Councillor Clayton Lazar asked what kind of spill containment or emergency plan, and Jamieson said he had.

“I have to have a written plan with the local fire department, obviously, too in case of a fire, something like that, the spill containment – the building is built to contain the product inside so that if there is a spill, there’s no seepage that goes out,” he said.

“The actual foot and walls will be 10 centimetres higher than the floor itself, even where the doors are.”

Once the building is complete, a plan will need to be submitted to both the ASWA and the Battleford Fire Department to show what is in the inventory and keep a log.

“There are no aerosols in here, like it’s just your basic herbicides for farmers that [they] use every day, so, it’s no explosives, anything like that,” he said.

Yvonne Prusak, CEO of Northbound Planning LTD, which is in charge of land use planning and development and is the town’s contracted planner, said the company did a preliminary review of the application.

“We looked at for compliance with your official community plan, everything there seemed to comply – it is designated for future highway-commercial,” she said.

Of the zoning bylaw, Prusak said that there was additional information that needed to be addressed regarding how it fit within the definition.

“The closest one that we could find was balk petroleum, and fertilizers sales and storage, however, it doesn’t have anything to do with fertilizer or fuel,” she said, noting they had a discussion.

“The clauses that are in the zoning bylaw stipulate that for petroleum and fertilizer sales, there is an additional distance setback from residential to be approximately 91.4 metres, but this proposal not having that petroleum or fertilizer sales, makes that a little bit different.”

Due to the discretionary nature of the business, the planners provided public notification to surrounding landowners who had property within 80 metres of the business property. As such, the planner had additional questions regarding the traffic expectations and the type of chemicals that will be stored.

“June and July is always a big time, yep, but honestly, 70 per cent of product that I do bring in goes directly to farm,” said Jamieson.

“This is more to house product of sensitive matters like frost – like certain chemistry can’t freeze, so we bring it in and hold it for farmers.”

He also received approval from the Ministry of Highways after being informed he would be using 5th Ave. as the main entrance to the industrial park before turning into the property directly.

“There’s no additional highway traffic, turning lane, anything like that needed,” he said.

As for environmental concerns, AWSA reached out to the Ministry through a letter, and the letter stated that the facility must be set 30 metres away from environmentally sensitive areas.

“They deemed this location good as it doesn’t have any storm drains, sewer drains running anywhere and it’s all contained on site,” Jamieson said.

While Prusak said everything according to their reviews to check all the proverbial boxes, she did address feedback from residents. Among the concerns aside from traffic included dust control and the chemicals themselves.

“There was some concerns raised that ‘why the municipality is pushing this through’ and so we had to clarify with the individual that this was an independent application from an independent business,” she said.

Councillor Doug Laing, who was acting mayor in Ames Leslie’s absence, asked for clarification on distances. Jamieson explained that although the lot isn’t set back 90 metres, the warehouse is.

“It’s more like 130 metres from (residential),” he said.

Fire Chief Larry Gabruch said the department was familiar with the project and confirmed that during their research, none of the chemicals were flammable, react negatively to either water or each other.

“We of course would ensure that the new structure conforms to the latest national building standards and fire code requirements,” he said, and they would work with him after the business was established.

“We feel that we have the equipment and the training to respond to any eventuality that may occur in this facility.”

During the public hearing section, residents who lived within the area on Heritage Landing Crescent and submitted questions did not mince words and voiced concerns freely.

Referencing the Government of Saskatchewan’s website, the resident pointed out a rule that storing more than 2,000 kilograms of hazardous substances had to be at least 100 metres from a residence.

“Is there rule property line or building,” the resident asked.

“Building,” replied Jamieson.

“So, you’re guaranteeing that you’re not going to be within 100 metres of my building.”

“Ahhh, I don’t, yeah, I shouldn’t be 100 metres to your house based on the maps,” said the business owner, adding the facility had to be 50 metres from the residential zone.

Regardless of the distance set out by the province, the resident was still ambivilant.

“That’s pretty close, you’re pretty close. If you are within 100 metres, you’re pretty damn close,” he said.

Listening to and responding to the comments, Jamieson explained that he also lived in the area, albeit 300 metres away, but in drafting the proposal, he followed the guidelines.

“It’s hazardous I guess, it’s still chemical so it would be deemed hazardous but it’s definitely not aerosol or anything like that,” he said.

“It is the safest warehouse you can build for – based on chemical – so I think it’s in safe standards.”

-with files from battlefordsNOW’s Kenneth Cheung

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: juleslovett.bsky.social