Planning well underway for Grimsby GO station

GRIMSBY — The region and town are nearing completion of a draft secondary plan for the future Grimsby GO train station.

Diana Morreale, planning lead for Region of Niagara, told Grimsby Council on Monday night the draft secondary plan for the area around the North Service Road at Casablanca Boulevard should be finalized and presented at an open house on October 23, with the final secondary plan to be unveiled in late 2017. The study area is one of several across the region identifying opportunities for GO hub and transit station in areas identified as future stops for train service. In June 2016, the province announced the extension of GO train service to Niagara with stops in Grimsby by 2021, and St. Catharines and Niagara Falls by 2023.

The draft plan for the Grimsby station area is intended to identify appropriate short- and long-term growth expectations in the area, from pedestrian connectivity, design details, public space enhancements and more.

“This is an area with potential change that could be transformational,” Morreale said of the draft plan during her presentation.

Morreale said a series of open houses identified a number of key priorities for residents, such as enhancing business and tourism, accessibility of the site design and location of a station and promoting growth and development, but also a number of needs, from improved traffic infrastructure to sufficient parking at the station to limiting traffic flow in existing neighbourhoods and competition between downtown businesses and proposed retail and commercial uses.

Morreale said significant development is being proposed or already underway within the Grimsby study area, which encompasses 178 hectares that stretches into the Winston Road neighbourhood. The envisioned concepts include capitalizing on “high-quality, transit-supportive waterfront development”, she said, as well as planning “long-term intensification and revitalization of highway commercial areas” on the South Service Road around the station area.

“These are long-term visions and we believe this will occur over the lifespan to 2041, if not further,” she said.

Metrolinx, said Morreale, is also examining station design and determining what property it will need to accommodate the station.

“Metrolinx is currently working on designing what the platforms will look like, what the parking will look like,” and many other issues.