Bridge fabrication yard finds buyer

A Connecticut company is making plans to salvage gravel, steel and concrete from the old fabrication yard that was used in the building of the Confederation Bridge.

The numbered company has applied to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to purchase 90 acres of the 137 acre site.

Under the P.E.I. Lands Protection Act any non-resident person or company seeking to own more than five acres of land must apply to IRAC.

The IRAC website shows the plan is to use about 90 acres of the 137-acre property for commercial and industrial development.

• IRAC: Applications Databank

The land, which was used to cast the parts for the bridge, has been left much as it was since construction was completed in 1997. The company plans to excavate and salvage the gravel, steel and concrete in and on the land. Then it says it would restore the land, possibly for future use as a residential subdivision.

The planned purchase was news to George Read, whose property is beside the old yard. He says the property is an eyesore.

"It looks like if a bomb hit a developed spot, and just left the cement standing," he says.

"Anything, almost anything, would be better looking at than what I'm looking at now."

Even though Read lives next to the property the potential sale is news to him. A spokesperson from IRAC says the buyers are not required to inform neighbours. That's done if the developer applies for a building permit.

IRAC has forwarded its recommendation to cabinet.