Vineland Growers is planning a big storage expansion.

With $120 million worth of fruit being sold out of the agricultural co-op every year, space is getting tight, its bosses say — and they need at least half an acre more in storage.

Leading representatives of the agricultural co-op came to a town development meeting March 4 to present plans to expand a storage facility at their location on the corner of East and West Line and Concession 4.

“We would not be building this unless we really needed it, and we do need it,” co-op board chair Phil Tregunno told Niagara-on-the-Lake councillors.

“Our co-op, one of the oldest co-ops in Canada, has been growing. Big time growing,” he said.

He said the co-op has grown to sell about $120 million in fruit annually.

“That’s a lot of fruit.”

The co-op wants to expand its dry storage facility by another 2,818 square metres, or approximately 0.7 of an acre.

It needs council to approve a zoning change on the land in order to move forward with the expansion.

Council will vote on the merits of the project at a future meeting.

“It will help store the packaging containers for over 70 per cent of the fruit growers in Niagara,” said Nadia Kobylka, the co-op’s chief financial officer.

Kobylka said the Vineland Growers Co-Operative Ltd. have met this need by renting 20,000 square feet worth of storage from the region’s farmers for the last 20 years.

However, that is becoming less viable because those farmers are reclaiming the storage space for their businesses.

The expansion of the co-op’s facility would also allow growers to store seasonal produce containers closer to home.

The co-op plans to use an adjacent lot to the west of its property on East and West Line to park and load trucks and trailers.

That lot is currently occupied by a single detached home, which will be demolished.

NPG planning consultant Dan Banatkiewicz said the builders would have to upgrade some of the sewage and stormwater infrastructure servicing the property to make the expansion possible.

The plan was to reroute vehicular access to the storage site through the property expansion and close off the existing one with hedges, he said.

This would reduce the impact of noise on nearby properties.

Resident Vince Mazza, who lives across the street, said he hears “loud screeching breaks” well after midnight at the property.

“Wakes me up several times a week,” he said.

Citing the town’s noise bylaw, town planner John Federici said noise from loading and unloading trucks would be prohibited between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. the next day.

Aaron Butler, also an NPG planning consultant, said truck loading generally goes until 9:30 or 10 p.m., but trucks sometimes enter and leave the site late at night in the summer.

Mazza also said the trucks kick up “unbearable amounts of dust” when entering and leaving the property.

He said the original property entrance was off Concession 4, and that ought to be the preferred entrance for trucks.

Another option would be to close access to the lot between 11 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Mazza also worried traffic to the site would increase with the expansion and suggested development on the property be halted until such concerns were addressed.

Councillor Sandra O’Connor asked what would happen to a tree line on the property.

Butler said the tree line along East and West Line would be extended as part of the development.