BIA town hall to hear concerns about sale of library to mission
Residents and business owners will have a chance this month to voice their concerns and opinions about the sale of Windsor’s central library branch to the Downtown Mission.
The Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Area will host a town hall on June 26 to discuss the mission’s planned relocation to the library building at 850 Ouellette Ave.
Chairman Larry Horwitz said the DWBIA decided to host the meeting after learning many merchants are concerned about what effect the sale could have on their business and the downtown in general.
“They want to be able to voice their concerns,” said Horwitz. “It’s a big step turning a library into a mission. It’s a relatively new, attractive complex that’s in the heart of Ouellette Avenue in the core area. “There were concerns on how it would affect the merchants, how it would affect the residents, how it would affect development. A big question is how it would affect tourism with people coming from other cities and going down Ouellette Avenue. There are a lot of questions.”
The meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. in the Best Western Hotel at 277 Riverside Dr. W.
The DWBIA also wants to do a study assessing what impact the mission’s relocation to the library might have on commercial and residential property values, crime rates, economic development and overall “neighbourhood quality.” The City of Windsor announced earlier this year it is selling the downtown library building to the mission for $3.6 million.
The mission’s plan is to move its kitchen, programs and offices to the building ’s first floor. The second level of the building will be converted into transitional housing and one-bedroom apartments. The deal closes in June 2019. Horwitz said one of his biggest concerns about the sale is that there was no public consultation. “We were never brought into the consultations,” he said.
“We never knew there was a library being sold. There were no public consultations, no discussions, no input from the merchants. There is a huge concern about what happens in a city that decides to sell its assets. This could happen with any of the city’s assets.”