Starting in early 2004, local media was swamped with letters regarding a major development within a recently designated Heritage¶ District. These were my published letters.
Webpage Info for: Letters to the (Standard) Editor Re: Port Dalhousie
In early 2004, an application to amend the Official Plans of the City of St. Catharines was submitted so as to allow a major redevelopment in a Heritage Designated District in the village of Port Dalhousie. Due to the first application's controversy, the application was pulled at the last moment and an alternative design and application was submitted. Below are my letters published in the St Catharines Standard regarding the contentious development proposals put forward by the Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corporation and renowned architects, Jack Diamond and Michael Kirkland. (Ordered from the most recent)
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We need to face hared realities when pondering the future Published April 21, 2006
Re: What other choice does St. Catharines have?, the Standard, April 15, 2006.
Until recently North America communities pandered to whimsical developers with little regard for the longer-term consequences. They, as we, now suffer the backlash from sprawl,¶Δ§ deteriorating infrastructure, threatened social and natural systems, and rising taxes.
Intensification,¶§ densification, smart growth,¶Δ§ and sustainability¶Δ§ have become priority concepts for every community. Few, like St. Catharines, have barely had a chance to fully understand how these concepts need to be applied to them specifically. St. Catharines, like they, has yet to formalize policies and guidelines for the priorities we must quickly address.
Developers attempting to capitalize on the popularity of these concepts, meanwhile, are incorrectly characterizing them. The proposal for Port Dalhousie is a perfect example of this.
Here are a few questions that need asking.
What's the rush to grow?
Niagara has not even met growth projections from mid 1970s, while St. Catharines is experiencing negative growth.
Is building for well-heeled, high-end markets sustainable?
Niagara is suffering from drastic housing shortages and extreme deficits of well paying jobs - with benefits? The rising cost of energy and oil are not likely to make matters, or markets, better.
How will the rising price of oil affect our economy, taxes, and social fabric anyway?
To get to the real honest answers we have to learn quickly from past mistakes while facing hard realities. And we need to ask a lot more questions.
Letters to the (Standard) Editor Re: Port Dalhousie [Continued]
Decision should be based on city's official plans Published August 24, 2005
To date, neither the Standard, nor Proud, nor any Letter to the Editor has addressed a critical issue underlying the Port redevelopment. That issue extends beyond maintaining the integrity of the Port Dalhousie Designated Heritage District.
The Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corp is dangling a very tempting carrot before the hungry eyes of St. Catharines; a well-designed, exciting mixed-use
§ redevelopment that seemingly suits the city's aspirations for compact, smart growth¶Δ§ intensification¶§, employment growth and promises of bolstered municipal coffers.
However, PDVC seeks to reshape policy, to remove from the 'public trust' the very safeguards that were very recently put into place specifically to prevent that which PDVC desires to have built.
Prior to submitting my concerns to the City on this proposal, I carefully reviewed PDVC's documentation and formal application against our City's existing planning policies. I concluded that city staff, mayor and council have been placed into a very precarious position.
PDVC's 'developer-initiated' application to amend the existing Official Plans for the express purpose of approving a 27-storey tower, proposes to alter, and remove the very wording that would ensure Port remains a truly special, traditional neighbourhood.¶§
It challenges those 'general plans', shaped by city officials and residents, to designate where throughout the entire city new growth, infill¶Δ or redevelopment will - and will not - be allowed to occur.
It would remove the predictability for developments that the City has been striving to create.
The decision upon which PDVC's application rests should not be made out of fear of turning away willing developers. It must be made to preserve the public trust, and the progressive guidelines for good urban design inscribed throughout the pages of The City of St. Catharines Official Plans.
Bernie Slepkov St. Paul Street St. Catharines
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