MacDonald Marine must go, says city

Land is needed to realize Hamilton’s west harbour plan

John Alexander — a.k.a. “Sandy” — MacDonald is finally striking his colours.

After more than 40 years of operating a marina on the shores of Macassa Bay in the west harbour, MacDonald is reluctantly accepting the impending demise of his business.

“I have to deal with what’s in front of me,” says MacDonald.

What he’s facing is the May 31 expiration of his 20-year lease at the cityowned cove between Bayfront and Pier 4 parks, which city officials have zero interest in extending, despite his pleas.

MacDonald now intends to ask the city for a 90-day delay to give his weather-dependent customers time to get their boats ready for the season while he removes his office building and tons of boat repair and haulage equipment.

But facing the facts doesn’t make the endgame any easier for MacDonald, the son and living image of the late former mayor Jack MacDonald.

He says it’s a “mystery” to him why

the city is so eager to get rid of him while it happily renews long-term leases with neighbouring boat clubs and marinas.

“I’m not being treated the same as everybody else in the waterfront precinct. That’s a fact.”

The way the city tells it, it makes sense to let the roughly $20,000 annual lease expire so they can get on with the Macassa Bay piece of the $140million west harbour recreation plan.

That includes relocating the Hamilton police marine unit from Pier 6 to Macassa Bay, increasing public access to the water’s edge, naturalizing the shoreline, consolidating the waterfront trail and turning Prohibition-era rum-runner caves behind the marina into a heritage site.

Chris Phillips, harbour redevelopment pointman, says the police marine unit will be moved this fall to a temporary location within the current MacDonald marina to be followed by a permanent facility at the site in 2020-21.

The timeline, he says, is based on the commencement of shoreline rehabilitation work.

For his part, MacDonald, 67, says he’ll happily hive off part of his marina to accommodate the police unit, and he’s willing to co-operate with naturalizations programs.

But the fact the city shows no interest in talking leads him to suspect he’s been personally targeted, though he doesn’t know why.

“A logical person looking at the facts would come to that conclusion,” says MacDonald.

“I don’t question they have a right to do what they want, it’s the motive.”

He points to a copy of a 2009 letter outlining the city’s position on the west harbour which includes directions to staff to “initiate a lease renewal process for all waterfront stakeholders.”

“That gave me some comfort because they had been directed to begin lease renewals with ‘all’ stakeholders and it didn’t say ‘except MacDonald Marine.’”

Phillips denies MacDonald is targeted.

“It’s not about Mr. MacDonald, it’s about MacDonald Marine. MacDonald Marine has a lease that expires on May 31 of 2018. MacDonald Marine has known that since they signed the original lease.”

Phillips points out council approved the west harbour plan back in 2010, which spelled out the vision for Macassa Bay, and that MacDonald was given lots of notice that things were going ahead.

He also notes a pedestrian right of way that cuts through the private marina is at odds with the rest of the waterfront trail and the principle of public access to the water’s edge.

That right of way may factor into MacDonald’s hunch he’s being singled out. It dates back to 1998 when, controversially, the city signed the now-expiring 20-year lease agreement with MacDonald instead of evicting him as planned.

Back then, Coun. Chad Collins and others who opposed the leasing agreement alleged MacDonald’s father, the former mayor, exerted backroom influence on council to approve the deal, drawing the ire of then-mayor Bob Morrow.

But that was then, this is now. A former Ancaster resident, MacDonald lives in the North End these days. He’s near the harbour, but he can’t actually see it from his apartment windows.

After spending most of his working life on the waterfront, it’s hard to say if that’s for the best or not.