As Far Back As 1925

Don’t exclude public from riverfront plan

THE NIAGARA PARKS Com­mission and Town of Fort Erie are embarking on a scheme of questionable merit – to allow a private developer to construct a marina complex on public land along the Niagara River.

I will go one step further and call it a terrible idea. The worst part of the proposal is to detour the parkway as we know it -away from the river in a long loop containing condos and who knows what else.

The whole world knows that developers covet prime land -and what follows? Investors who snap up condos for rentals. It happens everywhere. Water­front development properties for the most part, are controlled by the affluent, for the affluent. Just look at Crystal Beach where the former amusement park used to be. It’s now a gated community.

An upscale marina, and com?

plex if it is developed at all, should not exclude the general public from enjoying the water­front drive. That’s the way it always was, and the way it should stay.

As a card-carrying member of Ontario Shorewalk Association, I cherish public waterfront, wherever it may be, as do thou­sands of other citizens and visi­tors.

Lets not diminish the fact that we have the most pictur-

esque fitness trail in the worid along the river. It should stay exactly as it is today, public land within the Niagara Parks sys­tem.

On Thursday, a public meet­ing is being held at the Black Creek Community centre to address the situation.

I hope the NPC and the Town
of Fort Erie will be well repre­
sented. There will be plenty to
talk about. I just pray that the
“wood is not already cut and
dried.”
Paul Kassay
Crystal Beach

Parkway residents say no condos at marina

Posted By BY JENNIFER PELLEGRINI REVIEW STAFF WRITER

Residents living in the area near the Miller’s Creek Marina say they fear their idyllic lifestyle along the Niagara River waterfront will be destroyed if a developer is allowed to build a condominium community across the street from their homes.

About 100 residents took part in a meeting at the Black Creek Community Centre Thursday night, to talk about a proposed development that would include condos and some retail stores to boost the Miller’s Creek Marina.

“We’re not completely opposed to all development,” said Madonna Filipowicz, whose family has lived on Cairns Crescent for more than 50 years. “We want to see the marina fixed up. We don’t want condos in front of our homes.”

The idea for a condominium complex as part of a rejuvenated Miller’s Creek Marina came after the Town of Fort Erie approached the Parks Commission about a way to keep the then-named Niagara Parks Commission Marina operational about two years ago .

In need of major investment to keep the marina functioning, the commission was faced with the choices of closing the marina, making the large investment or having it taken over by the public or private sector.

The town stepped up and put out a request for proposal to develop the property, accepting a plan that could see stores and homes build in the area surrounding the existing marina.

The environmental assessment for that plan is still more than six months away from completion and no firm plans have been made for the area.

But composite sketching of a similar development in cottage country shows a marina surrounded by luxury condominiums. If that plan was to be followed, it would mean realigning the Niagara Parkway to accommodate the development on the shoreline.

Cairns Crescent, which runs off the Niagara Parkway and parallel to it before winding back toward the Parkway again, would be eliminated as the existing Niagara Parkway would be pushed backward, essentially taking the place of Cairns Crescent.

One woman who spoke at the meeting said she drove along the Niagara Parkway for years, dreaming of owning a home there. A decade ago, her dream came true.

“This is my peace,” she said. “I don’t want to lose my dream.”

Rick Nigh said he has serious concerns about taking that dream away from the thousands of people of all income levels who enjoy the “millionaire’s view” from the Niagara Parkway all year long.

“Americans across the river envy at how we’ve maintained (the parkland),” he said. “It is the Niagara River Parkway, not the ‘Around and Behind the Condominiums Parkway.’”

Others, like Peggy Fraser and John Gilmore said rejecting the development is about preserving the public’s right to access the waterfront -and about the fact the land is the Niagara Parks Commission’s to maintain, not to sell off to the highest bidder.

“The Parks Commission, in my opinion, does not have the right to change it,” said Gilmore. “They don’t own it. We do.”

newspaper-article-june-132008-marina1

Nordic Gaming ‘forging ahead’ with studies for $300M development

$2M provincial grant helped edtc secure deal

By Alison Bell

Fort Erie

Jun 06, 2008

A $2 million grant from the provincial government has helped the Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corporation negotiate an agreement with Fort Erie Race Track owner Nordic Gaming.The grant will assist with feasibility studies and planning for what Nordic officials say may become a $300-million dollar, destination tourism attraction.

Jim Thibert, president and general manager of the EDTC, made the announcment at a press conference Tuesday.

Although Niagara’s tourism sector has been suffering because of the high Canadian dollar, gas prices and confusion at the border, the Nordic’s representative says the group has been “forging ahead” with studies.

“We are really excited we got the $2 million, but we are forging ahead with a lot of the components of the project … We really believe this development can get off the ground and will get off the ground,” said Stephen Ayers.

“We think this gateway to Niagara will also complement the other gateway which is Niagara Falls. We believe those two things will bring back a lot of tourism from the U.S.,” said Ayers.

He said a large-scale model of the 350-acre development, which includes a five-storey hotel, attractions and high-end condominiums will be complete in about a month and the group is deep into preparing preliminary designs and drawings.

Thibert said the EDTC has done and will do whatever it takes to push forward with the development and assist Nordic with its plans for the site.

Economic development chair Claude Pilato said the project at the track is the “best value” for the town because it will help to forward other projects such as a NASCAR track and the development at Miller’s Creek Marina.

Pilato said including the three phases of construction, the track development could amount to up to 7,000 additional jobs in town.

Ayers said the development doesn’t guarantee the future of live racing at the 111-year-old oval, saying there are only two things in life that are guaranteed: death and taxes.

“Fort Erie may be in trouble because of the racing situation — it’s a well-known fact — but it’s not just us. We don’t have a monopoly on that,” said Ayers.

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor announced $3 million in funding at the Fort Erie Chamber of Commerce’s annual general meeting April 17, $1-million of which will remove the east-north ramp at the Concession Road exit off the QEW to improve traffic flow and help businesses attract customers. The remaining $2 million was originally reported to “assist in the making of key decisions about the future of the town.”

Craitor wants a second chance for bill protecting shoreline access

Niagara Falls Review

March 18, 2007

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor will reintroduce his Great Lakes Right of Passage bill Thursday.

Last April, Craitor called on his Liberal government to guarantee the public’s right to walk freely along the Great Lakes waterfront from water’s edge up to the high water mark. It’s a big deal in Fort Erie, where private landowners are limiting public access to Lake Erie’s waterfront.

In recent years, the building of fences to prohibit people from walking the shoreline has accelerated on Lake Erie, members of the Ontario Shorewalk Association argue.

Through Craitor’s private member’s bill, fences that block passage would have to be removed to comply with the act.

However, after receiving first reading in the most recent session of the legislature the bill came to a halt as a result of the October provincial election. It has to be reintroduced in the new session of parliament for further deliberation.

In the past, some landowners voiced concerns that the bill – if approved – could have negative side effects near their private properties.

Private property rights will remain intact if the bill passes, Craitor had said, but it would be an offence for a property owner to build or reshape shore lands to impede public right of way. Access to the shore would have to be over public lands and not over private property above the high water mark, he said.

The act would not permit the public to put down blankets or party on the site, only to use the area for walking rights, he said, adding no motorized vehicles will be allowed.

Big plans for Miller’s Creek Marina

ALISON LANGLEYTuesday, July 31, 2007 – 07:00

Local News -

FORT ERIE – The future of the former Niagara Parks Commission Marina is expected to make a splash with boaters.

Warren Dac Investments, a private firm which recently took over day-to-day operations of the Niagara River Parkway marina held an informal grand opening Tuesday at the newly-named Miller’s Creek Marina.

The company, which has signed a 99-year lease with the NPC to run the facility, has big plans for the property.

Proposed developments include a 500-slip marina, hotel, restaurant and a 150-unit condominium complex complete with private slips.

Time lines for various phases of the development have not yet been set as environmental and engineering studies need to be done on the property, said Bob O’Dell, Warren Dac spokesman.

“With the completion of the studies, the shoreline architect can then design the new marina,” he said.

He expects the new marina to be completed by 2009.

While construction is underway, seasonal boaters will have their vessels relocated to Marlon Marina in Port Colborne.

“This is a great opportunity but it’s only a few steps of a thousand to be taken. If everything goes according to plan, the marina will be the jewel on the river,” said Christopher George, of Marlon Marina.

The future jewel is rich in history.

In the early 1900s, the site was home to Miller’s Creek Shipyard, which supplied boats to allies during the First World War.

The NPC purchased the land in 1965 and opened a small marina.

The private firm took over management of the marina in May and renovated the existing building, added a patio and improved landscaping.

Once the project is completed, Miller’s Creek Marina will be the only port of entry for boaters entering Canada on the upper Niagara River.

Boaters will be able to clear Canada Customs at the marina and then take in the sights of Niagara.

“We very much want to encourage boating tourism,” O’Dell said.

Protect public access to lakeshores

By Doug Draper, Reporter’s View

Feb 22, 2008

These cold, gray days of February may make it hard for many of us to imagine enjoying a walk, in short sleeves and sun glasses, along the shores of Lakes Erie or Ontario.

Yet for those of us who long for those moments, we may take comfort in knowing that we’re really not all that far away from the warmer days of spring and summer when we can do that — to the extent there is anywhere left along Niagara’s shores of the Great Lakes we still have access to.

Thanks to more than half a century of provincial and municipal lethargy that continues to see buyouts of parks, nature sites and other lakeshore lands by private owners who proceed to slam fences and No Trespassing signs right down to the waterline, there are few places left for residents and visitors to our region to spend a few moments enjoying our Great Lakes unless they are willing to pay a fee at a toll gate.

The way things are now, we’re rapidly approaching a time when there will be no place left for anyone to enjoy a few free moments, kicking a little sand between their toes along the shores of Lakes Erie or Ontario. Thanks to the continued apathy or willing complicity of too many of our provincial, regional and local municipal leader, we’re facing the day when a walk along Niagara’s shores of the Great Lakes will be the exclusive right of those with the means to purchase a condominium or home in a gated community along the lakes’ shores

That is why a private members’ bill, being tabled in the provincial legislature this winter by Kim Craitor, a Liberal MPP for Niagara Falls, whose riding includes Fort Erie and Niagara-on-the-Lake, should draw the support of all of us who believe the Great Lakes are a public resource we not only have a responsibility to protect and preserve for present and future generations, but a right to enjoy.

Earlier this February, Craitor braved freezing winds sweeping off Lake Erie to walk whatever shoreline we — the public — still have access to with Stephen Passero, a Fort Erie resident and president of the Ontario Shorewalk Association. And it wasn’t long before the pair was cut off by one of those makeshift fences, declaring an entire stretch of the beach, right down to the waterline, as the exclusive domain of someone living in a private house on the bluffs somewhere up above.

“It is not the right thing to do,” said Craitor to a Niagara This Week reporter of one of many such barriers lakeshore owners have taken upon themselves to erect right down to the water, with little or no protest from others in our governments. “The public should have the right to walk the shoreline along our Great Lakes.”

To that end, Craitor is tabling a private member’s bill that is not about taking away any of the rights of owners of properties along our lakeshores to enjoy their properties. It is only about offering the rest of us the same rights available to people in many other jurisdictions along the Great Lakes, and Atlantic and Pacific ocean fronts, to have access to a few metres of sand or shale along the shoreline.

This is not the first time Craitor has tabled this bill. He tabled the same bill last year with little or no support from other members of the provincial legislature, or from regional or local municipalities in Niagara, with the result that the bill died when the legislature recessed for a provincial election.

This time, Premier Dalton McGuinty and his government should demonstrate the vision and courage to pass a bill that will ensure every member of the public has at least some access to the shores of one of the greatest natural resources in the world.

The fate of this bill should not only rest on support from the McGuinty government.

Support should also come from members of the opposition and from any and all representatives of our regional and local municipal governments who believe in at least some public access to the Great Lakes shores.

We’ve already seen too many shoreline areas lost or all but lost, from a popular old beach many locals remembered as “the sand hills” near the border of Port Colborne and Wainfleet, to the Easter Seals Lakewood Beach camp in Wainfleet and possibly a natural gem known as Marcy’s Woods in Fort Erie.

Craitor’s bill must be passed, not only for the sake of our own quality of life, but for the sake of Niagara as a destination for new residents and tourists to this region. We will all be poorer if we lose what little access we have left to our shorelines.

Condos, hotel planned for parkway marina

JOHN ROBBINS
Local News – Wednesday, July 04, 2007 Updated @ 6:31:48 AM

There’s a new skipper at the helm of the Niagara Parks Commission marina in Fort Erie.

The private sector company that took over management of the facility two months ago is charting a course for a multi-million-dollar makeover.

Proposed improvements could see the number of berths more than tripled, as well as the construction of a luxury hotel, a 500-seat restaurant, tourism-themed shopping outlets and a 150-unit condominium development.

The proposal to redevelop the marina is still in the conceptual stage, but Sentex Developments Inc. has reached an agreement with the parks commission for interim management of the marina, which has been renamed Miller’s Creek Marina.

Parks general manager John Kernahan said the commission “came very close” to closing the marina, before a private sector partner was found with the help of the Town of Fort Erie and the Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corp.

Meanwhile, the company is beginning work on an environmental assessment of the redevelopment proposal – a process expected to take up to two years, according to company spokesman Bob O’Dell.

He said the “footprint” of the development and the exact designs can’t be determined without the environmental assessment.

If all goes as planned, construction will begin within three years, O’Dell said.

The marina is located on the Niagara Parkway, near Cairns Crescent in the rural north-east corner of Fort Erie.

With 136 slips, it was built around 1965.

A number of years ago, the NPC put out feelers for private-sector proposals for redevelopment, but there were no takers at that time, Kernahan said.

In January 2006, the parks commission asked the Fort Erie EDTC to take the lead in finding a partner. A committee of civic and business representatives was struck to develop terms of reference for a call for proposals and to help review the competing concepts.

There were a number of major restrictions on what the Parks would allow, including a stipulation that the land would not be sold to private interests.

Instead, a long-term lease on the property was envisioned.

In April 2006, the Parks selected the Sentex Development Inc. proposal from among “two very superior proposals,” Kernahan said.

“We realized it was time for some really significant investment.”

Proponents met with residents in the Cairns Crescent area last year to talk about the proposal and to solicit input.

Kernahan said the private-sector development will be a source of revenue for the parks commission, but details of how much revenue the commission expects to get through a long-term lease of the property haven’t been finalized.

The company took over management of the marina May 1, and has begun making some improvements to the property.

“They’ve got it looking very good,” said Kernahan.