I've mentioned this development in the past [
here] but again lately, the Coco Group is in the media wanting to move forward with a big-box development on the former Windsor Raceway land.
The Windsor Star article link below has a great video, as well as comments for and against the development. One comment by Mr Valente (a developer himself) made a point something along the lines of: The integrity of an ecosystem shouldnt be left up to the goodwill of private landowners, and the government should be buying land back instead of asking people not to develop land. ... I must say I agree with him. If a company buys land and develops it or if a farmer cuts a woodlot, we grumble, ... but where is Ontario's Ministry of the Environment on this? The government needs to step up and buy out this land at a fair market value and encourage these developers to develop brownfield sites to revitalize the city's core.
Where has all the Tallgrass Prarie Habitat gone?
"Tallgrass was once found throughout the
east-central U.S. and in Southern Ontario and Manitoba. It covered an
estimated 90 million hectares - about the size of British
Columbia. Now only 1.5 million hectares (about 1%) remains -
about the size of half of Vancouver Island.
In Southern Ontario, tallgrass once covered approximately 1000 km2 - less than 3% remains!
This is a map of where the dozer's and pavers will make a giant parking lot (red rectangle). Traffic on Matchette will be up to 17,000 cars per day?
More information:
http://www.saveojibway.info/
Check today's video and reader comments (perhaps comment yourself) here:
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/03/27/big-box-retail-development-plan-near-ojibway-draws-fire-with-video/
Big-box retail development plan near Ojibway draws fire (with video)
Doug Schmidt
Mar 27, 2013 - 8:35 PM EDT
Last Updated: Mar 28, 2013 - 6:57 AM EDT
A developer is hoping to have found a more acceptable way to win
approval for a long-delayed but controversial big-box retail development
on lands abutting the environmentally sensitive Ojibway Prairie
Complex.
Coco Paving Inc. has submitted a proposal under a rarely used clause
of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act that allows development in protected
areas subject to the proponent providing “benefits that exceed the
adverse effects” on several listed plant and snake species.
“It’s a win-win — good for the environment and good for the economy,”
said company spokesman Anthony Rossi. The proposal was posted on March 7
on the province’s Environmental Registry, which provides details and
offers opportunity for the public to comment and ask questions until
April 8.
One of the biggest changes, said Rossi, is Coco’s willingness to
carve about 10 acres from its 47-acre holdings east of recently-closed
Windsor Raceway and establish a “restoration area” and natural buffer
between the development, at the corner of Matchette Road and Sprucewood
Avenue, and Ojibway park.
But the proposal hasn’t found much favour from activist Nancy Pancheshan and her Save Ojibway group.
“The problem with this application is that many of the endangerered
species are not included … and (the plan) is incapable of offsetting the
disturbances it will create,” said Pancheshan, who has been fighting
the developer’s plans since they were approved by city council in 2007.
She said part of the development will lie just metres away from
sensitive tall-grass prairie lands, and the estimated 18,000 additional
vehicles per day along Matchette Road, to be more than doubled in width
from two lanes to four lanes with a median, will greatly increase snake
mortality.
“This will just cause future blight in the city and compromise our remaining environmental habitat,” said Pancheshan.
Nancy
Pancheshan looks out at the property near the former Windsor Raceway
site where a proposed development is planned. Pancheshan has
environmental concerns with the wildlife in the area. (JASON KRYK/The
Windsor Star)
Pancheshan appealed the original plan to the Ontario Municipal Board
and has spent about $20,000 so far (raised mainly through public
donations) enlisting the help of independent experts — a biologist,
herbologist and hydro geologist — to dispute the company’s own reports.
It wasn’t until Pancheshan’s efforts that a number of rare and
endangered species were identified on the lands targeted for
development. An OMB hearing was indefinitely adjourned in August 2011
after the company was instructed to take a deeper look at the native
species on its lands.
Rossi said Coco’s latest proposal represents “a significant
accommodation,” one that will see plants like the dense blazing star and
willowleaf aster dug up and replanted, as well the homes of Butler’s
gartersnake and eastern foxsnake relocated. The 10 acres to be restored
to prairie habitat, which includes an existing horse training track,
“will eventually be conveyed (to the city or province) for park
purposes,” said Rossi.
While still wanting to see the details, Ward 1 Drew Dilkens said if
the developer is improving on a plan he and a majority of council
already approved, then: “Bravo, Coco.” Dilkens said “the demand of the
market is going to drive the development,” and that it’s “a reflection
on how people like to shop.”
Ward 4 Coun Alan Halberstadt, however, said he’d like to see whether
council might reconsider its original vote, particularly in light of the
additional information Pancheshan and her group uncovered during the
OMB appeal process.
Environmental issues aside, a big-box retail development on the
outskirts of the city “would be another blow to the downtown and the
core area,” he said. Halberstadt is co-chair of the Windsor Essex County
Environment Committee, and he said Pancheshan will be addressing the
group at its next meeting on April 4, just days before the Environmental
Registry public input deadline.
WECEC is already warning on its website that the Coco proposal “goes
against our city’s efforts to revitalise.” It also provides a “sample
comment” letter to the province which begins with a denunciation of the
developer’s plan.
dschmidt@windsorstar.com or on Twitter @SchmidtCity
Nancy
Pancheshan looks out at the property near the former Windsor Raceway
site where a proposed development is planned. Pancheshan has
environmental concerns with the wildlife in the area. (JASON KRYK/The
Windsor Star)
