Closed Doors (Closed Minds?)

In regards to the proposed “Crystal Beach Gateway Plan” I wonder what exactly has Town Council and Staff gotten us into? Is it an intricate public/private partnership “business deal” or drawn out, unpopular, money draining legal quagmire?

Despite assurances of complete transparency and full public involvement during the decision making process we have before us a “special closed door session” of Town Council, scheduled June 7, with the expressed purpose of discussing a transfer of what is currently a publicly owned, waterfront park to a private developer. Keep in mind it was in two other previous “closed sessions” that the Molinaro Group was selected and the 12 story condo plan was ultimately favoured.

While for some this certainly seems to minimize the notion of transparency, with open and public consultation during the entire process, I for one, find it difficult to believe that Mayor Martin would renege on his word that a decision on any land transfer would be reached before a final outcome through OMB proceedings. Respectfully, I remind everyone of the following:

“Town politicians have decided no more decisions on town-owned land at Bay Beach should be made pending the outcome of Ontario Municipal Board hearings which will help decide the fate of a condominium project slated to be built on the Crystal Beach waterfront”. (April 29,2010 NiagaraThisWeek)

And this direct quote from Mayor Doug Martin:

"A purchase and sale agreement between a developer and the Town of Fort Erie is being drafted, but will not be executed until after an as yet-to-be-scheduled OMB hearing and decision is made". (Niagara Falls Review Article# 1112869)

This brings me back to my opening questions and perhaps what really is the topic of Monday night’s meeting … the wisdom of a proposed project that lacks public support, is rift with controversy and is open to expensive legal challenges.

My two questions then really become one. Is this project the BEST option available?

John McCarthy

  

On April 29, 2010 they said...

Council holds firm on lands at Bay Beach

No rezoning will be considered until after OMB decision rendered

Town politicians have decided no more decisions on town-owned land at Bay Beach should be made pending the outcome of Ontario Municipal Board hearings which will help decide the fate of a condominium project slated to be built on the Crystal Beach waterfront.

For Entire NiagaraThisWeek Article Click Here

And remember this NF Review piece 
Mayor Doug Martin is adamant the municipality will not transfer any public land at Bay Beach into private hands before an Ontario Municipal Board hearing.
"A purchase and sale agreement between a developer and the Town of Fort Erie is being drafted, but will not be executed until after an as yet-to-be-scheduled OMB hearing and decision is made", Martin told The Niagara Falls Review Friday.
Makes one wonder what happened ?

While not "in office"... He's taken the lead

Niagara Falls Review Article 

Article By RAY SPITERI , REVIEW STAFF WRITER

In my humble opinion it seems that Wayne Redekop has managed to get WAY out in front and become the the public leader on this extremely important issue. While current Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin now recites "provincial policy statements" as justification for Bay Beach development and Councilor Sandy Annunziata refers to a "fiduciary responsibility" to the Molinaro Group I find it fascinating that a former political leader, now a private citizen, has stepped up to the plate and let it be known that the Mayor & Councilor have lost touch with the desires of their collective constituents.
With ALL due respect to Mayor Martin I have to ask... Mr. Mayor can't you see the contradiction when you invoke Ontario's stated policy of controlling urban sprawl by using it to justify handing over an existing public, waterfront park for private development?
To Councilor (and friend) Sandy Annunziata I respectfully suggest you hold the expressed desires of so many Fort Erie Residents and Taxpayers on equal footing with the principles of honourable negotiation.
To suggest that the existing Bay Beach development plan is the only reasonable option is simply a failure of imagination and a denial of reality.

John McCarthy
Crystal Beach

Upon further "review" by the replay official...

The question is...why would staff recommend otherwise?

Link to NF Review article

Photo taken this summer at Town garage.

Bay Beach...signed, sealed, delivered.

Attention EVERYBODY

from The Herald Online

A girl practicing her athletics Monday evening narrowly avoided serious injury when she found two steak knives buried in the long jump pit at Ridgeway Crystal Beach High School.

Niagara Regional Police say she was practicing with her mother around 6 p.m. at Pride Field when the knives pointed upward were found after her first jump.

“It’s apparent this was a deliberate act that created a very dangerous situation,” stated Detective Sergeant Scott Kruasher.

Police will be conducting increased checks of local schools and playgrounds as a result of this incident.

Residents are warned to inspect playground areas before allowing their children to use the equipment and to report suspicious activity.

Anyone with information about this act is asked to call police at 905-871-2300 ext. 2300.

Mike Cloutier

Whom to believe ?

From: March 10-2010

http://www.forterietimes.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2473359

Ward 4 Coun. Tim Whitfield said he is bothered by the amount of "misinformation" distributed around town from a campaign that voiced its opposition during the entire process. He thinks people should realize that the Town does not intend to enter into more partnerships with developers and build all along the waterfront. In fact, he said somewhere down the road the local government should inquire into buying a portion of the private beach and make it accessible for the public and retain as much waterfront property as possible.

From: December 19-2009

http://www.forteriecanada.com/news_events/pdf/FETIM_1219.pdf

Partnership Key To Rejuvenation

The Crystal Beach Gateway project will be a model

for growth on the lakeside properties westward which will

reduce the per capita costs to provide

services for the very loosely,

and seasonally, populated cottage

neighbourhood on Erie Road. 

“I have every confidence the

new development will be successful,”

Mayor Martin said. “Because it’s in the private sector

and they are investing their dollars to make it work and in

their experience they think this is a good place to invest

and that it will grow.”

Marina proposal offers world-class resort

“This is an innovative venture partnership that is

sustainable and shared and helps implement our vision

for tourism and recreation,” said Jim Thibert, general

manager of the Fort Erie Economic Development and

Tourism Corporation.

Well done Mr. Brokaw !!!

We from Buffalo, know this. Now so does the rest of The United States

I guess this is where the lawyers come in...

Link to Buffalo News

A must read...

NiagaraAtLarge

Another View From Port Dalhousie On The Battle Over A Condo Tower Plan For Crystal Beach

Niagara At Large

By David Serafino

Section B Wednesday, Feb. 10

Buffalo News City & Region Front Page

Front Page Sunday Feb. 7

The Buffalo News

Enough Said

Well Gang:

Barring any unforeseen “developments” (pun fully intended) I think it’s pretty safe to say “The Preliminaries” are over!

With a clear majority of Council in favour of the existing “Crystal Beach Gateway Project”, it certainly appears they will make their commitment official, sometime in March, with the rezoning ruling.

Whether you support the existing plan or not, I think we can agree that “next up” would be O.M.B. hearings ?

While I currently don’t have any involvement or “special insight”  in any such action, like you, I do know that some organizations and individuals, have in fact, started in that direction. Frankly, some of you reading this, more likely than not, possess more knowledge on the matter than I so my commenting on either the concept or mechanics of the issue would be ridiculous.

There are  a couple of instances when I KNOW  I should keep my mouth shut.

1)  When I don’t know what I’m talking about.
2) When I do know what I’m talking about but it simply will not make a difference.

A check of these particular criteria has led me to conclude that it’s time to shut this “bad boy” down.

After witnessing Monday night’s shameless display of disrespect, dysfunction and deceit and working on the assumption that the Bay Beach issue will in fact go to the O.M.B. (and yes it is an assumption)

I suspect attitudes, positions, and arguments, will become much, much more extreme. So much so that managing a reasonably “open & friendly” forum like this one will become impossible (at least for me).

Conversely, contemplating the possibility that the issue, as it stands, does NOT go before the O.M.B. leads me to consider that perhaps I’ve made a very serious error in the selection of where my wife and I would eventually retire to.

As they say…”live and learn”

To those of you who have read the comments on this weblog…

I THANK YOU for your time !!!

To those who have contributed …

I THANK YOU for your words !!!

Sincerely,

John

 

I was “speechless”…

Considering last nights meeting was NOT supposed to be a “free for all” for supporters or detractors of the proposal, I respectfully submit that, perhaps, some participants would have been better off had they remained, at least, ON TOPIC… ?

(As in focusing on the issues of "appropriate land use" and "re-zoning")

Then again, maybe Forrest’s Mama was right after all...

“Ya never know what yer gonna get” ?

Your Thoughts ?

John

Town/Region Co-op ?

With Councilor Ann Marie Noyes’s motion for Town Council to consider exploring a possible partnership with The Niagara Region in regards to Bay Beach, I’m curious as to whether or not anyone has any thoughts on the matter ?

The floor is open for discussion…

Enjoy the weekend!

John

Remember Seinfeld's “Bizarro World” ?

From Fort Erie Times Archives

http://www.forterietimes.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=770619

Pilot project aims to maintain Crystal Beach’s ‘cottage community’ look
Posted By Mark Ladan
Posted 2 years ago
       

To ensure cottage-like look of the old village of Crystal Beach, Fort Erie Town council is moving ahead with something called a Development Permit System (DPS).
The first step in the pilot project is to develop regulations that must be adhered by builders and 
homeowners, when doing any work on a home or commercial building that requires a building permit. At its Monday meeting, council approved a staff recommendation to send out a request for proposal to companies that are experienced in developing such regulations. Staff estimates developing the regulations will cost about $20,000.
In the case of Crystal Beach, the regulations would likely require that new homes or renovation projects to stick with “cottage-type” designs, including a certain range of exterior colours and building materials. If the pilot project is successful, it could be implemented in other neighbourhoods in Greater Fort Erie.
All members of council, with the exception of Ward 3 Coun. Bob Steckley, voted in favour of proceeding with the pilot project. He said he’s not necessarily opposed to it, but felt staff hadn’t provided enough detail to council to make an informed decision.

“I’m against the fact that we were requesting additional information on it as far as what legalities we have to make sure that the ideas of the report get carried forward and don’t get lost. We’re going to spend $20,000, I want to make sure that we can uphold the letter of the law. We had asked for additional information, it wouldn’t have taken more than a week to get.”

Part of the additional information requested was how many homes per year would fall under the DPS guidelines. The community and development services department reports that the 10-year average for new home starts in Crystal Beach is 17 units.
DPS has been tried in a couple other of municipalities, including downtown Hamilton. Mostacci told council that system was shelved there, because there were too many requests for variances. It was also tried in the Muskoka community of Lake of Bays, but Mostacci was unsure as to how it was received there.

Plan B ?

Please. When you have an opportunity, take some time to visit the link below, explore and by all means, post your thoughts.

No doubt you’ll notice the existing eight story condo.What do you think?

http://www.grandbend.com/beach/goals.htm

Be sure to view the “Master Plan Concept” at the bottom  of the “Goals” page.

Grand Bend, Ontario is engaged in a project that many feel (including myself) is an alternative to The Town’s current “Crystal Beach Gateway” project.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Here is the Q & A section of their website.

What will the Beach Enhancement Project cost total?  And how much community support is required? What will the Beach Enhancement Project cost total?  And how much community support is required?

The entire Beach enhancement project will cost $3.5 million dollars.  At this time a number of key stakeholders have joined together to support the project.

The Rotary Club of Grand Bend has made a commitment of $100,000 to name the Performance Plaza.

The Grand Bend Optimist Club has made a commitment of $100,000 to name the Children's Playground.

The Grand Bend Community Foundation is generously donating $75,000 towards the natural garden areas.

The Municipality of Lambton Shores will be funding items such as lighting and roads and other infrastructure costs.  A recent announcement by Rural Economic Development (RED) program with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has added $500,000 in new funding towards the project.  Community fundraising (including the RED grant) is hoped to exceed $1.5 million.

Agreement? And another question

In regards to the discussion whether or not the proposed condo site is waterfront?

From Fort ErieTimes Bay Beach advertisement found at:

http://www.town.forterie.ca/WebSite/tofeweb.nsf/Doc/OpenDoc.html?OpenFrameset&ID=CC82741EBD82B3538525769B00719C67&File=bay%20beach%20ad.jpg&Title=Times%20Bay%20Beach%20Ad

Quote from article…

“The Town has entered a partnership with a major Ontario developer to build high-rise condominiums on waterfront land and create first class amenities for the adjacent public beach”.

I believe the ad clearly illustrates that the proposed construction site is, without question, waterfront land.

Switching gears, if I may?

Further on in the same ad, Jim Thibert, General Manager of the Fort Erie EDTC, makes reference to the success that The Molinaro Group has had in Burlington. Indeed they have. There is NO question in my mind, that this firm builds magnificent, quality buildings. Involving them in a project for Fort Erie is nothing to sneeze at.

With that understood I would respectfully ask Mr. Thibert this question.

How much publicly owned, waterfront park land was transferred to private ownership in any of the redevelopment  projects on Burlington’s waterfront?

I ask because frankly I don’t know the answer.

To me, when one looks at the comparative size of Burlington’s Spencer Smith Park & adjoining Beachway Park vs. Crystal Beach Town Park, it seems evident that we should be assertive when it comes to redistributing ownership of our public waterfront.

Finally. I have to say that discussion on this blog, especially with the supporters of the current Bay Beach proposal has been, in my mind, truly a PLEASURE !

I sincerely look forward to more of the same in the future and to you, our Canadian Friends…

THANK YOU for the being such gracious hosts!

I can only hope you understand how much we appreciate the privilege of being part of this wonderful community.

John

In their own words

From: Report No. CDS-41-08:

Bay Beach Development/Seeking A Private/Public Partnership Opportunity

See: Appendix 1 To Administrative Report CDS-079-08 October 20, 2008 File No. 120902 (page 10)

"Development attitudes are changing to public beach land: i.e. developers value the fact that waterfront lands are kept in PUBLIC ownership. It brings more people to their site, in which in turn creates a higher profile for the site and allows for potentially lucrative interaction between public and private portions of the development"