Town seeks funding for $48.5M waterfront destination park plan
The Town of Lasalle has a $48.5 million plan to expand its waterfront park along the Detroit River, celebrate its history, and stop the drive-thru effect along Front Road.
“This would be our gem, our focal point. It would be a destination,” Mayor Marc Bondy said Wednesday.
The town has submitted a grant application for its Lasalle Small Coast Waterfront Experience to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
If successful, the federal government would pay 40 per cent of the cost and the provincial government would contribute 33.33 per cent. The town’s share at almost 27 per cent could be about $13 million.
The idea of a waterfront destination park got momentum in September 2018 when the town purchased the Westport Marina for about $2 million. Bondy said the town plans to keep the boat storage building to become an event centre for the park which could more than double in size to about 26 hectares (65 acres). The project could take 10 years and with funding, could begin late next year, he said.
Drivers zip past the park off Front Road and local businesses, Bondy said. A survey done a few years ago showed overwhelming support from residents for a waterfront destination, and getting tourists and residents to stop in the area would help the town, he said. There’s even talk of reducing Front Road in that area from four lanes to two lanes.
The proposed expanded park would solve some flooding issues related to high lake levels, it would include the town’s first museum, and it would showcase the area’s Indigenous, French and English heritage, Bondy said.
“This project would be second to none for our culture, our history and this destination to preserve our waterfront.”
The name, Lasalle Small Coast Waterfront Experience, comes from Petite Cote or “small coast,” the original name of the area. The area was claimed by France in 1749 and French families lived on narrow strip farms off the Detroit River which made Petite Cote one of the oldest farming communities in Ontario, a report to council said.
Petite Cote was later renamed Lasalle after the French explorer Rene-robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.
Plans for the accessible, expanded park include an event centre and lawn area for festivals, an observation deck by the river with a lift or elevator, and a relocated boat launch. The marina with about 1,600 feet of boat slip space would be improved for transient recreational boaters and to create a water feature that could be used as a skating rink in the winter.
There would be a historic area with a museum in a restored historic home, interactive kiosks and research done on reports of an underground rum runner’s tunnel in the area, he said.
There are plans for a sports zone around the existing outdoor pool plus preserved marsh areas, trails, and a dog park if that’s what residents want.
The town is in the process of acquiring four more properties. There will be public consultation in early 2020 and there’s more information at lasalle.ca/waterfront.
This project would be second to none for our culture, our history and this destination to preserve our waterfront.