It’s coming up on three months since 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 for future residential development west of the Elgin Country Railway Museum (ECRM).
And it’s been almost three years since Tarry declared proposed residential development on land currently owned by the museum is an opportunity to revitalize that portion of downtown St. Thomas.
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.
Category Archives: Green Energy
Bicentennial celebrations are planned this year for Old St. Thomas Church which is ‘very much a part of southwestern Ontario history’
Construction began on Old St. Thomas Church in 1822 and was completed two years later, and so this year marks its 200th anniversary.
We spoke with Steve Peters, who sits on the church restoration committee, on the founding of what was originally known as St. Thomas Anglican Church, located on Walnut Street.
“Daniel Rapelje, the first settler of St. Thomas, had two sons pass away in 1819 and he had buried them on this land and then in 1821, he donated land for the church and cemetery.
“Construction began on the church in 1822 and was completed in 1824 and opened when the first minister was appointed.”
It is considered an example of Early English Gothic Revival architecture.
The first incumbent, the Rev. Alexander Mackintosh, served from 1824 to 1829 and was also the village’s schoolmaster.
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Lukewarm reaction to bold call to co-mingle high-density housing and industry in St. Thomas
Is it possible for industry and housing to co-exist in fairly close quarters?
It’s a question that has been on the mind of Coun. Steve Peters and he brought it out into the open during Monday’s (Dec. 18) council meeting.
Specifically during debate on the draft plan of subdivision for the city’s 1,500-acre industrial park now known as Yarmouth Yards.
Peters opened the discussion by wondering aloud, “Why wouldn’t we be bold and look at a residential component to what is going on out there? We’ve got thousands of jobs that are going to be created, thousands of more jobs that are already in the industrial area, and why couldn’t we look at designating a portion of the southerly part of it as high-density residential?”
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Re-purposing a St. Thomas brownfield site is one more step in attacking the city’s housing shortage
It’s all about seeing cranes reaching up into the sky over St. Thomas.
That was the observation of Mayor Joe Preston on Wednesday morning (Nov. 22) for the groundbreaking ceremony at the 14-storey Highlands Tower 1 apartment building.
It’s Phase 2 of the redevelopment of the former Timken Canada property at Talbot Street and First Avenue.
“It’s the beginning of the next phase of the growth here,” suggested Preston, “and what a great team they have on this project and how beautiful this will be for this corner.
“An old brownfield site of an industry. I loved the Timken company when it was here, but what a great way to re-purpose the site we’re standing on.”
The 162-unit development is being undertaken by Fast Forward Ventures Capital of London.
In March of last year, approval was granted for the first of several towers expected to rise on the property.
Preston called it one more step in attacking the city’s housing shortage.
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A place to finally call home for 45 residents moving into The Station in St. Thomas
An exciting time over at The Station yesterday (Sept. 29) as Indwell officially opened their second supportive housing project on Queen Street in St. Thomas.
But it went a step further as Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health announced close to $1.2 million in operational funding.
The money will be used for rent supplements along with mental health and addiction support services at the 45-unit housing project.
In March of last year, the province provided $3 million to help build 20 supportive housing units in The Station.
That money was delivered through the Social Services Relief Fund.
Owned and operated by Indwell Community Homes, The Station provides housing and services to those 18 and older with mental health addiction issues and experiencing housing instability.
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As the city readies for rapid expansion, the St. Thomas Strategic Plan is in line for a ‘refresh’
At Monday’s (Sept. 18) council meeting, members will receive an update on the city’s Strategic Plan which covers the period 2021 through this year.
The plan was originally adopted by city council in May of 2013.
The city engaged the services of Fanshawe Corporate Training Solutions in June 2019 to assist in a plan update.
At that time, the idea was to develop a short list of strategic themes for the city’s path forward.
This included a focus group of community stakeholders and a public and city staff survey which included 539 respondents and produced a list of 25 key themes.
In June of 2020 that was whittled down to the Top 10 strategic priorities.
Topping the list was infrastructure, including roads, bridges and sewers.
The Number 2 priority was emergency shelters for the homeless.
And, rounding out the Top 3 was affordable housing.
Moving forward three years, let’s look at today’s updated strategic plan.
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A change in St. Thomas Canada Day fireworks venue lights up more than just the sky
The announcement from the city seemed harmless enough.
Canda Day celebrations this year will culminate in a spectacular fireworks display.
However, the light-up-the-sky show will take place at 1Password Park and not the traditional venue in Pinafore Park.
We asked Mayor Joe Preston what prompted the change in location.
He noted 1Password Park “has three accesses, a lot more parking and it gives us the ability to put on a better fireworks show.”
A reference, no doubt, to the tighter confines at Pinafore and the proximity of neighbouring homes.
Preston continued, “In discussions with the Kinsmen, who help us with the fireworks and also help us with Canada Day, we thought IPassword would be a great thing to try.”
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A $13+ billion VW investment means “the future is going to be strong and bright for people in St. Thomas and right across the country.” – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
It’s been many decades since St. Thomas could hoist the banner, Railway Capital of Canada. Before the end of the decade, however, could the city become the EV Battery Capital of Canada?
The numbers bandied about Friday (April 21) sure point in that direction.
Hosted appropriately enough at the Elgin County Railway Museum, politicians from all levels of government plus officials from Volkswagen and its battery operation, PowerCo, along with city staff were on hand to provide further details on the gigafactory to be located in the new industrial park on the eastern limits of the city.
Technically the EV battery announcement was made last month at city hall, yesterday’s event was an opportunity to fill in the many blanks in order to shed more light on just how massive this facility will be, not to mention the financial gigaincentives dangled by the feds and the province.
In his address to the gathering, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called St. Thomas the place to build the future together.
And he wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room.
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The competition was ‘intense’ however St. Thomas wins the bidding war for Volkswagen EV battery plant
After about a year’s worth of talks between Volkswagen, and the federal and provincial governments, the deal was made public this past Monday.
The automaker announced it was locating an electric-vehicle battery plant in St. Thomas.
It’s Volkswagen’s first overseas gigafactory.
It’s a logical choice given the city’s location, its proximity to essential minerals mined in Northern Ontario and required for production and the provincial deal just consummated that brings hundreds of acres of Central Elgin land into the confines of St. Thomas.
The plant will be operated by Volkswagen’s battery division, PowerCo.
Few details were made available on the size of the plant, the number of workers to be employed and how much will the deal ultimately cost taxpayers in this country.
More on that in a moment.
Following the announcement around noon on Monday, Mayor Joe Preston advised this is only the beginning.
Ian's City Scope 