Fort Erie needs development

The developer is preserving 80 per cent of these woods, including a hiking trail and amusement park ‘ruins’ — old concrete that’s dangerous to hikers.

The woods attract unsavoury types at night, and squatters have been evident. Not always a place of spirituality and history.

The developer’s private property signs were torn down, and one of his larger signs near Waverly Park was vandalized. It’s his property. It’s been private property since before the park was built over 100 years ago.

Land along Lake Erie close to the fort could have been part of the War of 1812, including these woods — but so was land where homes were constructed along Lakeshore and Edgemere roads, where some members of this opposition group reside.

My home backs onto the developer’s property and we have a view of the wooded area. A lot of the trees are dead and have fallen, and it’s overrun with ticks and weeds. The developer has been reasonable. Most of us neighbours have encroached with plants and gardens. Generously, he has deeded us land allowing us to keep our landscaping intact. The stormwater pond will be turned into a park, with trails and benches. Currently it’s overgrown with weeds and used as a dump.

The birds are wonderful, and they might fly into the windows of the tower, as they fly into the windows of my home (on the ground floor). But they’ll always return.

I’m tired of reading one-sided views of this development. Fort Erie needs progress. If we must have a development behind our home, this is the developer for us. Carole Jackson

Fort Erie

Stick to core principles in downtown St. Catharines RE: BUILDING DESIGN INSPIRED BY ‘DELIGHTFUL’ DOWNTOWN, AUG. 15

While St. Catharines has made enormous strides in the last few years in rehabilitating its downtown, after decades of unrestrained development had sucked the commercial and cultural vitality out of the heart of the city, most of us still feel full recovery has a long way to go, and even the considerable gains made are fragile.

So, what do we need to keep us on track in achieving the city’s avowed goal of making St. Catharines the most dynamic, innovative, sustainable and livable city in North America? Well, let’s see. Downtown grocery store — check. Increased downtown residence — check. Downtown hardware store — check. More public art and green space — check. More office space — uh, actually no.

In fact, that’s the last thing we need. Entire commercial office buildings stand empty, and others are limping along with 50 per cent occupancy. So hats off to Bernie Slepkov for saying what more of us should have been saying at the recent city council hearing regarding the application for a seven-storey office building smack in the middle of St. Paul Street.

While defining exactly what a sustainable, livable city looks like has become something of a parlour game, urban planners generally agree that increasing the residential density in a downtown is the single most important contributor to recovery and sustainability. Crime declines, there is greater demand for downtown shops and services, car traffic is reduced, and residents develop a sense of ownership responsibility for the downtown neighbourhood where they live — and which we all value.

Zoning is the way cities ensure planned, healthy growth. Backing off on principles every time a developer shows up in town is not the way toward smart, sustainable growth. Requiring downtown developments to include 50 per cent residential units would be a good beginning, and now is the time to start.

Don Sawyer

St. Catharines