Barrie’s answer to ethanol is blowing in the wind in Collingwood and the city should be even more restrictive in keeping a refinery away from schools and homes, concerned citizens told city officials Monday night.

In a statutory public meeting to gather input on Barrie’s proposed official plan amendment and zoning bylaw modifications  – which would restrict ethanol refining to land zoned heavy industrial and at least one kilometre from schools and homes – the public raised some stink about the buffer not being enough.

They also noted the city should include commercial as a sensitive use, especially since many doctors and medical-testing companies attract pregnant women and individuals with breathing difficulties.

Paul Ecker urged the city to examine the challenges in Collingwood.

There, the city has called Collingwood Ethanol a public nuisance and Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment has not only sent in specialized testing equipment, but laid 17 charges, with Nov. 21 being the first court date.

“The answer is blowing in the wind – that’s something we’ve heard in songs,” said Paul Ecker.

“It has a lot of meaning for us in Barrie, (living) greater than one kilometre but less than two kilometres from Molson. It did smell at the time, and it did smell beyond the one kilometre. I can smell the sewage treatment plant and I am more than one kilometre away. In Collingwood, people beyond one kilometre have had problems as well.”

He suggested Barrie use a five-mile, or eight-kilometre, distance, as is the case in some American communities.

Judy Nuttall agreed. “My concern has always been the health, welfare and well-being of children,” said Nuttall. “Public and secondary schools are in close range of any proposed ethanol site in Barrie. An ethanol plant anywhere in the city would impact schools. (Student) health is at stake.

“On Big Bay Point Road, we have one high school, one French school and two elementary schools, all within 1.5 kilometres (of the proposed Northern Ethanol site).”

She noted, when Molson established its brewery, the site was on the fringe of the city and far away from homes and schools. Now the city has grown up around it, with thousands of homes and many schools within a kilometre radius.

Erich Jacoby-Hawkins suggested the city expand its definition of “sensitive” land uses, to include commercial uses, because often medical clinics and labs locate in plazas.

“There are places you will have children and others that are more sensitive. It could be included to medical offices, dental offices and labs where pregnant women go for ultrasounds,” he said.

He also noted that private schools are located in many commercial areas – such as the Bryne Drive area, which is home to schools including Kempenfelt Bay School, as well as dance and yoga studios.

The city must take the comments into consideration as it refines its planning policy.

Meanwhile, council gave final approval to extending its one-year freeze on ethanol production in the city to December 2009.