We're celebrating: Development Done Right!

Shovels went into the ground at 955 Ouellette this week: this is where a four-storey luxury rental condominium building is going up on a downtown lot that has stood vacant since the 1980's. The project is one of the first major residential city centre developments in more than two decades. It will add 32 units of much needed housing in an area where municipal infrastructure already exists, and where far too much land consists of empty lots. The brownfield project is one of many announcements in and around Windsor since the Downtown CIP (Community Improvement Plan) was adopted in September 2017 to encourage urban residential development. MHBC, the out-of-town consultants who produced the development plan for Sandwich South, determined that 6,900 new residential units will be needed to supply Windsor's housing needs through 2036:

They identified a total potential supply of just 3,255 units (p.63 of this link). They earmarked the development of 1,000 acres of active farmland adjacent to Windsor Airport (to be anchored by the planned single site acute care hospital). This area is expected to provide more than half (3,645 homes) of MHBC's projections for Windsor's new housing needs for the next two decades. It's difficult to believe that these planning professionals were unable to find enough land within Windsor's established neighbourhoods. We have been tracking the formal housing applications and media announcements as they've been coming out: We've catalogued more than 4,000 new housing units - that's already 60% of the total anticipated new housing needs for the next 20 yers! And that's without even taking into account Windsor's new Second Units bylaw that allows the construction of basement dwellings, converted garages and so-called "granny flats".

We're quite certain that many more untapped development opportunities exist within Windsor's existing neighbourhoods. In 2016, the project Vacant Windsor identified some 700 empty or abandoned lots:

On this Victoria Day weekend, we're celebrating the groundbreaking on Ouellette because healthy cities fill in their urban spaces before developing active farmland. Healthy cities make their downtown areas attractive to residents of all income levels. A healthy city is one that benefits everyone.

Isn't May too early for the sound of crickets?   The sound of silence emanated from the local Windsor media following the full page article about Citizens for an Accountable Mega-hospital Planning Processin the May 6, 2019 edition of Canada's national daily, the Globe and Mail.   Why the lack of interest from our local media?  Increasing numbers of informed residents complain that our new hospital needs to be located close to the most densely populated neighbourhoods. They point out that it is unacceptable to replace an acute care hospital with an Urgent Care facility, and that decision makers have also ignored serious environmental concerns. Why is it so hard to report on engaged local citizens who oppose the transfer of 4,000 jobs and all hospital services to an active farmland site adjacent to Windsor Airport? Where is the cost analysis of adding (and maintaining) so much new municipal infrastructure on the outskirts of the city?

Nationally, and even internationally, plenty of people are paying attention to what's happening in Windsor.   Increasingly, they are learning about the failure of accountable and responsible leadership in Windsor-Essex. The Globe and Mail article prompted Garfield Mahood, who was born in Windsor and later inducted as an Officer in the Order of Canada, to write a letter to the Windsor Star. His letter generated hundreds of comments on Facebook.

Mr. Mahood, who now lives in Toronto, spent much of his life fighting to prevent tobacco-caused illness and death. For over 35 years, he has been at the forefront of the very successful fight against Big Tobacco. Clearly not a stranger to controversy, he wrote:

"I only hope that those behind the mega-hospital project will realize that such a large shift in jobs and health services is not in Windsor’s best interests. I also hope they are large enough to concede a mistake and change course."

Some recent comments from our friends and neighbours:

"This decision effects Windsor for years to come! It may be "regional", but it will be Windsor's tax paying dollars that maintain those roads, those sewers, snow removal, bus transportation, etc. The fact is, Windsor is struggling in many of these areas throughout the city, and this only furthers this issue. Locating on the outskirts of the city will be a tremendous mistake." ~ "Garfield, thank you for your letter as we wish the same, except we feel the people pushing the buttons don’t care one bit about people only profit. They already know how huge their mistake is and its still full speed ahead towards the iceberg. The ones pulling the strings have the lifeboats; there will only be room for them." ~ "So many Canadian cities are desperately encouraging infill development (witness the latest issue of Canadian Geography magazine), and here Windsor is ensuring sprawl with its current choice for the megahospital location. Not smart." ~ "Urban sprawl ends up costing a fortune in the mid to long run" ~ "There were and are better choices for this location that support everyone. We have time to make it better."