Proposed residential development on land currently owned by the Elgin County Railway Museum is an opportunity to revitalize that portion of downtown St. Thomas, stresses Doug Tarry.
The St. Thomas developer made that observation almost three years ago, and this past Tuesday (Feb. 20) city council unanimously agreed to declare certain parcels of land that partially comprise Jonas Park to be declared surplus to the city and those parcels will be sold to Doug Tarry Limited (DTL) for future residential development west of the Elgin Country Railway Museum.
Back in the summer of 2021, Tarry sought to purchase eight acres of railway land immediately west of the museum at $300,000 per acre for a low-rise residential development that would front onto a new street to be created off Ross Street and north of Jonas Street.
Speaking with him on Wednesday of this week, you could hear the relief in his voice that this complex process was again moving forward.
We’ll have a lengthy conversation with him in this corner next week, but in the meantime, he offered the following observation.
“Last night (Tuesday) was a much-needed next step for the railway lands. Official comment is, we are honoured by and respectful of the faith that council has shown us.
“Investing into our downtown by honouring our railway heritage while creating a sustainable future is part of Doug Tarry Limited’s continuing vision for our community engagement projects, such as our support of the elevated park and Project Tiny Hope.
“Our dad would be so proud of this commitment. As he taught us, ‘Always leave the campsite better than you found it.’”
As Mayor Joe Preston stressed at the council meeting, “This is the start to the process and we will touch it many times.
“This is the city being bold with the railway lands. What is the best thing we can do with the railway lands in downtown St. Thomas?
“From a municipal perspective, the development of these lands that have been vacant for decades presents a unique opportunity to rejuvenate the downtown core, provide additional employment and much-needed housing.”
So what exactly does the deal between the city and DTL entail? It is a complex undertaking with numerous conditions attached.
As part of the agreement, the museum had stipulated permanent railway access from Ross Street to the museum be maintained.
To do so, DTL required parcels of land at the Jonas Street Park property. The actual park area at the south end of the parcels will remain intact.
A series of commitments are attached to the sale of the land:
- Restoration of the rail connection between Ross Street and the ECRM transfer table (east side of the museum), via the lands in front of the CASO station and transfer access rights to the ECRM.
- Coordinate ownership over the former passenger platform in its entirety with the CASO station ownership.
- In cooperation with the city and adjacent landowners, extend Centre Street from Ross Street to CASO Crossing. Upon completion of the Centre Street extension, Doug Tarry Limited will convey the DTL-owned portion of these lands back to the City of St. Thomas.
- The re-establishment of the Trans-Canada Trail connection through the project site. Upon completion, DTL commits to conveying the DTL-owned portion of these lands back to the city or the appropriate entity.
- To work with the city and adjacent landowners to explore a new road/corridor access from the project lands to Talbot Street.
- To work with the city to restore and/or improve Jonas Park.
- In addition, the city requires that the sale of the surplus city-owned properties be conditional on the establishment of a formal agreement stipulating that Doug Tarry Limited shall be responsible for the following:
- Assume all costs associated with the land transfers.
- Confirm and assume all costs associated with possible Trans-Canada Trail realignment and pavilion relocation with the Trans-Canada Corporation.
- Share in costs associated with the completion of a Secondary Plan which will:
- Be led by city staff.
- Include the area bounded by Talbot Street, Ross Street, Wellington Street and CASO Crossing.
- Have a robust public engagement process.
- Be adopted prior to the commencement of any area redevelopment.
- Maintain vehicular access to the Centennial Sports Club.
- The land sale agreement will also contain a clause stipulating that physical site development must commence within three years of the land sale. If site development has not begun by this date, the city will have the right to purchase the parcels of land for the original sale price.
Jeff Bray, the city’s Director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities in a report to council noted, “From a municipal perspective, the development of these lands that have been vacant for decades presents a unique opportunity to rejuvenate the downtown core, provide additional employment and much-needed housing.”
Coun. Jeff Kohler called this, “The first step of many to come in the revitalization of downtown.”
In July of 2021, we talked with Matt Janes, vice-president of the museum’s board of directors and he laid the cards on the table.
“The reason we’re doing this is we need to raise money in order to protect our main assets which are the museum building and the collection.
“And so by selling a portion of the land, the money we raise will go a long way toward protecting and restoring the building and protecting the tremendous collection we have.”
He continued, “I think the main concern of a lot of the members is that the railway aspect of the museum – the ability to access our collection of rolling stock and to bring trains onto the site – be maintained.
“We’re committed to maintaining the railway aspect of the museum.”
Janes had nothing but praise for the work Doug Tarry has done on a variety of fronts in St. Thomas, including a significant financial contribution to the St. Thomas Elevated Park and the city’s trail system.
“Doug Tarry personally and his company have been a tremendous boost to the city in any number of ways. And, he’s also nationally recognized as an energy-efficient homebuilder.
“We as a board are very confident that we’ve got a developer who is going to look after . . . the broader interests of the museum and the downtown core.
“We’re pretty confident if this goes through, they’ll do what’s really important to look after not just their own interests, but the broader community interest as well.”
As mentioned above, we’ll have a candid conversation with Tarry next week in this corner.
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Setting the switch to the appropriate track forward for the Elgin County Railway Museum
A CASE OF AT THE TABLE, WHEN IT IS CONVENIENT
Picking up from last week’s item on the St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce Lunch with the Mayors earlier this month, following opening remarks from Southwold Mayor Grant Jones, St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston and Central Elgin Mayor Andrew Sloan, the floor was opened up to questions from those in attendance.
With an initial reluctance for anyone to step forward to the microphone, moderator Paul Jenkins saw his opportunity to immediately kick into high gear.
He wondered if the sharing of services between the three municipalities is the route to go or, even further, amalgamation of city and county.
Jenkins pondered, “Would we not be better off working as one municipality?”
Mayor Jones answered in a word, “No.”
He continued, “Amalgamation doesn’t save money and that’s just a given fact. We can work together, yes. And there are a lot of things we can share and do share already.
“Every municipality, we all have our different little things that make us unique and amalgamation just muddies that water.
“Southwold would never be involved in that, I would fight that tooth and nail. I think the majority of municipalities in Elgin county probably feel the same way.”
For Mayor Preston, working together is the most imperative piece.
“I would say, honestly Joe, if someone is coming today to look to invest, those 350 acres we have left is probably not quite as good an investment location as your land, that is formally ours, for the Volkswagen plant.”
He pointed out, “It was about nine months ago that the province passed the legislation moving a certain amount of land into St. Thomas from Central Elgin.
“Because the company that is purchasing the land, in this case Volkswagen/PowerCo, wanted to deal with one municipality and not two. It made perfectly good sense to do it.
“Right from the beginning, we continue to pay the taxes that the landowners in that area were paying to Central Elgin and we’ll continue to do that until Andrew and I, as he says, sit down a few more times and come up with what the other compensation will be.”
As an aside on sharing of services, Central Elgin will no longer share planning services with the city, something it has done for many years.
Mayor Sloan conceded, “I think there is a case to be made for some of the shared services and we’ll look to those when there are opportunities.
“But if you’re looking at a municipality the size of Central Elgin with the growth that is coming, we also need to have some of our services in-house due to the size of the projects coming forward.
“I’m not averse to sharing, we’ve done it before and I’m sure we’ll do it again. If there is a business case for it, we would consider it.
“I would say, honestly Joe, if someone is coming today to look to invest, those 350 acres we have left is probably not quite as good an investment location as your land, that is formally ours, for the Volkswagen plant.
“We have become the sweet spot in southern Ontario for growth and we all have to put every egg we can into the omelette on making housing.”
“So, we need to make sure we have our own economic development. That we have people representing the needs of Central Elgin moving forward, making the business case to promote our industry.”
Adding fuel to the fire, Jenkins asked for an update on progress with talks on compensation to Central Elgin for the industrial land it lost to St. Thomas.
Mayor Preston led off with, “We’re really trying to come to a conclusion that isn’t so much negotiated in the press or in public.
“We are now at the point where we’ll start construction on the site this year, it will be three years worth of construction before the first battery prototype is made on that land.
“We have a number of acres of other land that is sitting there that will be developed, also.
“But the biggest worry we have in speaking with the provincial government, in St. Thomas and surrounding areas as far as 60 miles, is housing.
“We have become the sweet spot in southern Ontario for growth and we all have to put every egg we can into the omelette on making housing.”
“We have discussions, there is frustration on both sides. But, that’s the difference, as Joe says, between what’s open to the public and what we’re trying to do as we negotiate between two people who are trying to come up with a decision that represents us.”
Mayor Jones interjected, “To this point, the county has not been involved in the discussions in the annexation part of it to any great extent. We’ve been isolated for the last year.
“We did make a pitch to Minister Flack (Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack) about a week ago on why we feel the county should be at the table as well and we hope we are in the future.
“It does affect our infrastructure greatly, especially our roads . . . and we need to be compensated.”
Mayor Sloan observed, “Joe is an affable, charismatic and pleasant to deal with. But, he also has a passion for his community, and for which I have for mine.
“And that is why we are continuing to negotiate. I don’t think this would be best for Joe or best for me if this was completed within six weeks. I really don’t.
“I respect Joe for what he does for his community, I believe it is mutual but we’ll find out.”
That last comment drew laughter and murmurs from those inside the CASO station.
Sloan continued, “We have discussions, there is frustration on both sides. But, that’s the difference, as Joe says, between what’s open to the public and what we’re trying to do as we negotiate between two people who are trying to come up with a decision that represents us.
“We want to ensure that a deal, which ultimately our friend Minister Flack will help with, is something that does benefit the region.
“We can be part of the housing solution. We’ve got the team, we’ve got the opportunity.
“There was a person in the office yesterday who said there are 5,000 jobs in southwestern Ontario that can’t be filled because of lack of housing.
“For us to work together on those items, I’m sure there is going to be continued willingness.
“As I’ve tried to point out a little bit, we’d like to be more in the know on various things, but that is also part of the process.”
To which Mayor Preston interjected with a reference to the vacant psychiatric hospital south of St. Thomas.
“Andrew and I have had a number of conversations about the psych hospital lands in Central Elgin and how can St. Thomas help.
“We know that is a huge land mass that can become a lot of housing. This has been a part of the conversations and part of our compensation conversation.
“And, we will continue to have them.”
ON THE FENCE WITH CN
Under unfinished business at Tuesday’s council meeting, Coun. Steve Peters sought information about the fence being erected on CN property at the end of Station Street.
“I’d like to hear from staff as to what the status is, why is this fence being constructed, and who is going to maintain this fence.
“Some people, as recently as this weekend, were threatened with fines from CN for walking on the property. They were able to talk their way out of that.
“Can someone tell us what is up with this fence? What is up with our discussion with CN? Because I am concerned about the permanency of this fence.
The latter question is in reference to CN planning to sell a parcel of land at the end of Station Street.
Lou Pompilii, the city’s director of planning and building advised, “We have been made aware of the fence being built and we’ve been monitoring it and trying to get the same answers.
“We’ve engaged with a lawyer . . . and I believe on March 4, we will be presenting some of those findings to council.”
To which Mayor Preston responded, “It’s not like they (CN) ask for permission all the time. You can understand our trepidation about a fence going up when we weren’t told it was going up.”
“If corrective actions need to be taken,” added Pompilii, “we will take them, swiftly.”
Just a gentle reminder here, council is dealing with CN which is a country unto itself.
THE ECHO CHAMBER
In response to our item on Feb. 10 relating to artwork for the two roundabouts to be constructed on Highbury Avenue, Leo Renner has the following thoughts.
“We have wonderful, creative, pieces of art at all of our roundabouts. Both citizens and visitors frequently make positive comments.
“This program continues to establish the city as progressive and a leader in attractions, along with the elevated park, Jumbo, the railway museum, and our other parks, to name a few.
“In my opinion, the design proposed for the Highbury/Ron McNeil roundabout is nowhere near the previous standards. It’s apparently meant to look like a barn, to pay homage to our agricultural heritage.
“Instead it resembles numerous rows of old snow fences. We should be able to do better.
“Why not profiles of agricultural implements . . . ploughs, tractors, combines, hand tools to commemorate this huge aspect of our local history?”
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