GM land to be paved and used as a parking lot
Councillor disappointed former plant site won’t be used for housing
The former General Motors transmission plant property on Kildare Road is slated to become a parking lot for nearly 6,000 vehicles, a plan the Windsor councillor representing the area says is disappointing.
The 45.36-acre property will be used as a waypoint for vehicles being transported by train and truck, according to a site plan document going to city council Monday.
The Walkerville property’s three lots will accommodate 644, 742 and 4,436 parking spaces respectively, for a total of 5,822.
Ward 4 Coun. Chris Holt said he had “high hopes” the land could eventually “be put back into very productive use — (like) housing, bringing more residents into the core of city and provide things that people are obviously looking for, a more urban lifestyle.” As a huge parking lot, the site will become a “heat island” that could negatively affect drainage and the water table, he said.
“These things have very, very large implications on the quality of life for people who live around it. And there’s a lot of people who live all around this property.”
The document councillors received Friday, gives notice of the plan to use the site for parking — which is allowed under the current zoning, Holt said.
“Now it’s not really coming to council for approval or anything like that. It’s just a notice that this is happening.”
The applicant seeking site plan approval for the property is Essex Terminal Railway, represented by Dillon Consulting Limited.
The current registered owner is Orchard Heights Properties Inc. of Amherstburg.
Reached by phone Saturday, Terry Berthiaume, president and CEO of Essex Terminal Railway, had little to say about plans for the property. “I’m not aware of any site plan approvals,” Berthiaume said. “We haven’t purchased any property.”
The memorandum to council lists Essex Terminal Railway as the “new owner (offer to purchase).”
The document, released Friday in advance of Monday’s council meeting, included a copy of the site plan approval application and drawings received by the city on July 27.
The former GM property won’t “require a zoning change or an official plan amendment or anything that would normally come to council for consideration,” Holt said. “But obviously ... 5,822 parking spaces in the three lots — the three former General Motors lots — it’s going to have huge implications on the neighbourhood.”
In a tweet Saturday, Mayor Drew Dilkens said the issue will be in front of council Monday for a “full debate,” even though it’s listed on the agenda as a communication item.
The GM transmission plant, which employed 1,400 workers, closed in July 2010.
“Back when General Motors was built there, it was ... an employment facility for thousands of individuals,” Holt said. “And those thousands of individuals, they come into the neighbourhood, they bring economic activity with them by eating at the various establishments and making purchases and that type of thing. As far as industrial facilities go, it wasn’t a bad usage of that space.”
He never envisioned it being used for parking.
“Parking is one of the lowest uses of urban land,” Holt said.
“It’s got the lowest tax implications. It doesn’t generate economic activity. It’s a horrible use of that land. I don’t know of anybody who will really want a 50-acre parking lot in their backyard.”
The site is already zoned for industrial use, Holt said.
“So we, the public, might have very little to say about this, because this is the usage that is allowed.”
He emphasized that the site will be 50 acres of pavement.
“We’re not talking about lawns. We’re not talking about landscaped areas,” he said.
“We’re talking about 50 acres of asphalt.”