MAYOR SHARES PRIORITIES FOR THE NEW YEAR
Dilkens says mega-hospital, diversifying economy top list
Mayor Drew Dilkens’ two top 2020 priorities are ensuring Windsor gets its mega-hospital as well as a radical new plan to diversify its auto-dependent economy.
“If we don’t take some bold action, what happens if Chrysler gave us notification of the minivan plant closing?” the mayor asked in a recent interview, hearkening back to his startling inaugural speech on Dec. 3, 2018, at the start of his second term, when he launched a diversification call to arms. Since then, FCA (Chrysler) announced but then delayed the end of the third shift at the minivan plant, and Nemak announced it would close its Windsor aluminum plant in 2020.
“These are things I can’t control, but I can control how we move forward,” said Dilkens, who added the plan will involve diversifying the local economy and creating better linkages with the college and university to help speed the flow of a skilled workforce. He was reluctant to provide details.
“What that solution will look like will make many feel uncomfortable,” he said. “It will feel uncomfortable in terms of the cost, it will feel uncomfortable in terms of is that going to work and they’re going to want to test this to make sure what’s being put forward is the right solution.”
He said Windsor probably doesn’t have to worry in the next three years (the remainder of Dilkens’ four-year term) about FCA announcing the plant’s closure. “I don’t believe that’s going to happen, but God help the mayor after that, whether it’s me or someone else, who receives that phone call and they’re unprepared for that,” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to prevent. I want the community to be prepared for that call so they’re resilient and we’ve buffered the impact of that type of news moving forward.”
Looking to 2020, Dilkens said the economic diversification plan is one of the top two issues, along with the new $2-billion acute care hospital. The so-called mega-hospital cleared a major hurdle in early December when the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal rejected an appeal by the Citizens for an Accountable Megahospital Planning Process (CAMPP), who oppose the hospital’s proposed location on County Road 42. CAMPP recently announced it would seek leave to appeal the LPAT decision to Ontario’s Divisional Court.
“Certainly, the hospital is a huge issue facing the community,” he said, talking of the need to “rally the troops” to convince the province to approve the project “that is so important for the future of health care in our community.”
Another long-standing issue that the mayor expects will be resolved in 2020 is the city taking ownership of Ojibway Shores, the only riverfront natural area in Windsor that was being marketed for development several years ago by its owner, the Windsor Port Authority. Following a public outcry, the city stepped in and negotiated a swap, trading privately owned riverfront land in Sandwich it was expropriating for Ojibway Shores.
That deal is yet to be finalized, according to Dilkens, who explained that Indigenous peoples had to be consulted.
But he expects it to be completed in early 2020, meaning Ojibway Shores would join with the other natural areas within the Ojibway Complex.
Also coming in 2020 are council decisions on which bids will be chosen by council to redevelop the former Grace Hospital site at University and Crawford avenues (all the shortlisted proponents have plans that include hundreds of housing units) and the Windsor Arena/water World site at Wyandotte and Mcdougall streets (shortlisted bidders are the YMCA and Windsor Express).
And the sewer master plan should be finalized next year, providing a blueprint to make Windsor more climate change resilient, after thousands of basements were flooded in catastrophic downpours in 2016 and 2017. Almost $90 million in sewer system improvements have already been approved for Riverside and East Riverside, but the final price tag could reach $500 million over the coming decades, said Dilkens.