Don’t allow Stelco lands ‘fire sale’: mayor
City would like first right of refusal
HAMILTON MAYOR
Fred Eisenberger is pleading with the province to stop a “fire sale” of vacant Stelco lands that he warns will “condemn our city’s waterfront.”
The mayor wrote to Premier Kathleen Wynne in advance of a court hearing this coming Friday where the long-negotiated sale of U.S. Steel Canada-turned-Stelco to Bedrock Industries could be approved.
The May letter, circulated to councillors Friday, outlines concerns with the proposed plan to appoint an armslength land trust to sell off vacant parcels of the steelmaker’s 818-acre harbourfront property to help shore up underfunded pensions for retired Stelco workers.
Eisenberger, who was unavailable for comment, wrote that council is worried the province intends to sell the land too fast and without input from the city or public.
“Simply put, a hasty, out-of-context selloff of Hamilton waterfront lands to the highest bidder will very likely yield results that will condemn our city’s waterfront, and the associated regional economy, for at least the next generation,” the mayor wrote, adding a “longer-term vision” is needed to generate enough cash to support retiree pensions.
Forcing all land to be sold within five years, he said, “equates to a short-term fire sale of the most significant remaining portion of Hamilton’s employment-based waterfront.”
The city is also requesting “first right
“A hasty, out-of-context selloff of Hamilton waterfront lands to the highest bidder will very likely yield results that will condemn our city’s waterfront.” MAYOR FRED EISENBERGER LETTER TO PREMIER KATHLEEN WYNNE
of refusal” on purchase offers of Stelco lands.
Councillors will meet Monday to discuss the impending Stelco decision. Hamilton Liberal MPP Ted McMeekin, parliamentary assistant to the premier, said the ongoing court process prevents him from talking about possible changes to the sale proposal. But he emphasized the premier and her Stelco point person, former top banker Ed Clark, are “well aware” of the city’s concerns.
“I’ve talked to both of them about the issues reflected in the mayor’s letter,” he said. “There are competing interests. We understand the city wants to leverage those (land) assets to make the city stronger … maybe in a way that is slower than other parties would like.”
Unionized workers at Stelco in Hamilton will vote on a new contract Tuesday, indirectly affecting the proposed sale to Bedrock and the associated land trust.
Gary Howe, president of United Steel Workers Local 1005, says he has discussed the city’s land sale concerns and “they seem to make a lot of sense to us … We’re certainly interested in ensuring the highest, best utilization of those lands to capture the most value that can be created for pensioners,” he said.
Eisenberger paired his letter with a summary of findings from a team of economic experts, including the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis, Urban Strategies Inc. and former Waterfront Toronto CEO John Campbell.
The experts suggest the biggest boost to Hamilton’s annual gross domestic product — between $1.6 billion and $2 billion — would come from land development scenarios mixing port logistics, steel, “creative” and other industries.
The worst-case scenario, the research suggested, would be turning over the majority of land for “portrelated uses.”
The city is working on a strategy to guide future development of the 3,700-acre industrial bayfront, an area stretching north of Barton Street and from Pier 9 to Woodward Avenue. But the city’s own consultants have warned strategic land purchases may be the only way to exert control over development on the east harbour.
City zoning control of the area is limited because those businesses f all under the jurisdiction of the federal, arms-length Hamilton Port Authority.
The cash-strapped city — which is battling a $3-billion infrastructure backlog — would have to get creative to buy swaths of industrial land, conceded Coun. Sam Merulla, whose Ward 4 includes part of the east bayfront.
“But if we want to control our own destiny as a city, we might have to try,” he said.
Council and the port authority have butted heads over develop- ment plans in the past — most recently, over the port’s now-stalled plans to host a garbage-to-gas plant north of Sherman Avenue.
The port authority has said it is interested in buying vacant harbour land. Spokesperson Larissa Fenn said officials “need to time to reflect” on the contents of the city’s letter, but noted the agency has “a lot of practical experience” in repurposing brownfields and is committed to being “flexible and co-operative” during the sale.
Merulla said the province will effectively “kick us in the groin” if it ignores the city-building implications of the Stelco lands. He said council’s vision for the bayfront is more than “smokestacks, incineration and port inventory.”
“Everyone’s primary objective is to ensure pensioners are protected,” Merulla said. “But the province has to work with us on this, not against us.”