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.
Category Archives: Municipality of Central Elgin
‘The year ahead represents, to me, a bridge to prosperity and a critical shift from past to present’ – Central Elgin Mayor Andrew Sloan
The St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce Lunch with the Mayors gathering is typically a non-controversial State of the Union-type event, more jovial than jousting.
That all changed with last year’s get-together which came on the heels of Bill-63, the St. Thomas Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act.
Central Elgin lost hundreds of acres of farmland to St. Thomas for that municipality to assemble 1,500 acres for what would become the Yarmouth Yards industrial park and ultimately the home of Volkswagen/PowerCo and the EV battery giga-plant.
Much of the question-and-answer time slot was put to good use by former Central Elgin Mayor Sally Martyn to hold St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston’s feet to the fire on her municipality’s lack of involvement in the land deal.
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‘Snapshots’, another theatrical chapter in the history of Southwold Township
Southwold Township history comes alive again this spring with a collection of one-act plays and original songs presented at the Keystone Complex in Shedden.
Entitled Snapshots, the production focuses on the Second World War and the RCAF Bombing and Gunnery School near Fingal.
Written by Len Cuthbert, one of the plays mirrors the philosophy of long-time area resident Lorne Spicer, one of the founders of the Rosy Rhubarb Festival, a member of the Elgin Stewardship Council and the St. Thomas Field Naturalists.
He believed life is the train, not the station which is the title of one of the productions, notes Cuthbert.
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Central Elgin industrial land compensation talks: ‘It’s time for us to maybe segue from talk to action’ – Mayor Andrew Sloan
There is no doubt work is progressing rapidly over at Yarmouth Yards, the home of the PowerCo/Volkswagen EV battery plant. You only have to view the well-produced videos released regularly as part of the From the Beehive series, courtesy of the St. Thomas Economic Development Corp.
But, here’s a question for you.
How are those compensation talks with the Municipality of Central Elgin progressing?
Compensation in some form for the hundreds of acres of land that was either legislated/stolen from Central Elgin – depending on your point of view – to be annexed into the city.
Let’s backtrack for a moment.
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The good, the bad and the concerns expressed about life in St. Thomas
What do you feel are the two most important opportunities and two most important issues facing the City of St. Thomas?
That was one of several questions posed to participants of three town hall meetings held in September and October of this year to garner input on the refresh process of the city’s strategic plan.
Climb Consulting has been retained by the city to undertake this plan update.
The meetings attracted those who live, work and access services in St. Thomas.
The information is contained in a report before council for Monday’s (Nov. 6) meeting.
Looking at the city’s strengths, participants lauded the strong sense of community and pride in St. Thomas.
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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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St. Thomas designs action plan to pursue federal housing accelerator funding
As part of the city’s ambitious housing strategy, members of council on Monday (Aug. 14) will be asked to approve an application for funding under the CMHC Housing Accelerator Fund program.
This funding is available to municipalities across the country and is to create a greater supply of housing at an accelerated pace and enhance certainty in the approvals and building process, according to a report to council from Taylor Mooney, the city’s strategic initiatives manager.
Mooney notes such an application “has the potential to achieve sizable funds to support housing development in the City of St. Thomas. Base funding is estimated at $20,000/HAF incented unit, with opportunities for top-up funding and an affordable housing bonus.
To qualify for funding, the city has to prepare an action plan that identifies at least seven initiatives and the money provided is determined by estimating the number of permits issued for dwelling units resulting from the initiatives in the action plan before September 2026.
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The shape of things to come at the new industrial park in St. Thomas
We are starting to get a little clearer picture of what is envisioned for the city’s new 1,500-acre industrial park with its first customer, the Volkswagen/Powerco EV battery plant.
The imaging is courtesy of the St. Thomas Economic Development Corp. and their regular updates posted via short videos on From the Beehive.
A site map has been unveiled although, as is to be expected, this would be subject to changes of a varying degree over the coming months and years.
In the accompanying map (the extreme southern end of the property is not visible), the actual industrial park is outlined in red with the boundary to the north being Ron McNeil Line, the eastern boundary Yarmouth Centre Road, the southern boundary just north of the existing rail line to Aylmer and the western limit roughly bounded by Highbury Avenue and the OSR rail line to Ingersoll.
The access points to the park will be off the new Hwy. 3 bypass extension running east from Centennial Avenue, a new internal road south from Ron McNeil Line and new internal roads off Highbury Ave. and Yarmouth Centre Road.
As noted in the latest video, the site is one-third bigger than Canada’s Wonderland.
The EV battery plant is outlined in green on the map and is roughly centred on the property but more aligned to the north end of the site.
Electric utility transmission lines (shown in brown dashes) will run into the site from Ron McNeil Line and east from Highbury Avenue.
A copious amount of water will be required and that will be provided via the existing water storage and water booster station located near Centennial Avenue and the new Hwy. 3 bypass extension as shown on the map.
A rail line – shown in orange, bottom right on the site plan – will enter from the existing CN trackage to Aylmer and Tillsonburg, currently operated by GIO Rail.
The new track will run north off this line and run under the new Hwy. 3 bypass extension and at grade level at the interior road and lead to a multi-track yard running alongside the PowerCo site.
This switching/storage yard will be owned by the city to serve future customers in the industrial park.
There will be new roads on site with all intersections featuring roundabouts – 12 in total – designed to accommodate truck traffic.
There will be two stormwater management ponds on site – shown in blue – to handle surface water runoff and to prevent overloading the municipal drain system.
Based on projected traffic volumes, upgrades will be needed to the Highbury Avenue corridor south of Ron McNeil Line.
As per the recommendations of a now-completed traffic study, Highbury Avenue would be widened to five lanes between Ron McNeil Line and Dennis Road with the widening occurring on the east side side of the roadway.
From Dennis Road south, Highbury would be widened to four lanes to South Edgeware Road.
Highbury Road would be extended south to the Hwy. 3 bypass.
South Edgeware Road would be widened to three lanes west to Burwell Road.
Highbury Avenue would be reconfigured at the intersection with Ron McNeil Line to a multi-lane roundabout.
You can find out more about the Highbury Avenue study here.
IT WOULD FIT PERFECTLY
Still with the city’s industrial park, when you look at the site plan the railway yard is a fairly significant feature in terms of size.
The PowerCo battery plant will not require all of that freight car capacity and so the rail facility is designed for future customers.
Are we anticipating the Volkswagen Group will next build a vehicle production plant adjacent to the PowerCo factory?
Perhaps one of its fully-owned divisions like Audi which only has one North American production facility located in Puebla, Mexico?
All of Audi’s other plants are located in Europe, India, Indonesia and China.
It would make sense, after all there still is a considerable amount of vacant land available in the industrial park.
And one more thought.
Is the new park going to have a name other than the St. Thomas Industrial Park?
CCHC INCHING TOWARD A NEW HOME
If you seldom shop downtown and you’re blessed with a family doctor then you likely are unfamiliar with the Central Community Health Centre (CCHC) on Talbot Street in St. Thomas.
It opened in October 2010 and serves residents of Central Elgin, Southwold Township and St. Thomas.
The CCHC model of care focuses on primary health care, illness prevention, health promotion and working closely with other health and wellness providers in the community.
Its CEO is Judith Wiley who recently cautioned that without adequate space and funding the organization will be hampered in carrying out its essential work.
However, a recent Trillium Foundation grant for $67,000 will allow the CCHC to begin addressing those concerns.
In the meantime, Wiley is confident the organization “is still giving great, great, great service, that isn’t an issue.
“But, our staff is stretched beyond anything. We have extended hours, we make ourselves available but in terms of being able to do the programming, we’re begging and borrowing space.
“For our seniors’ outreach program, we’re using space at St. Thomas Anglican Church right now.”
For more than a decade, Wiley has seen her staff struggle to operate in a facility that is far less than an ideal size.
However, Wiley advises the grant will allow the organization to move forward in the hunt for a new home.
“We’ve been looking at a new facility for at least 10 years. With COVID, we really can’t distance enough and we really can’t program out of that building anymore.
“Our board has always wanted us to be at least west of Ross Street.”
Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack (pictured here with the CCHC board of directors) visited the centre earlier this month and noted the facility “plays a vital role in advancing healthcare for St. Thomas and Elgin county.”
“With the region’s anticipated growth in the coming years, this project is of the utmost importance in ensuring we maintain and improve this essential service.”
Wiley advises the establishment of a new home for the centre will ultimately have a positive impact on the downtown core.
“We can expand and actually be able to deliver more effectively the kinds of services we do.
“I think it would have a really have a positive impact on the downtown and on those kinds of concerns (like mental health issues and homelessness).
“We’ve had very, very positive results from the kind of services we do.”
Flack observed, “With the region’s anticipated growth in the coming years, this project is of the utmost importance in ensuring we maintain and improve this essential service.”
The funding will be used for a website redesign and to hire a consultant to design a capital campaign for a new building.
HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS PLAN: WORKING TOGETHER
At the July 17 city council meeting, the St. Thomas-Elgin 10-year Housing and Homelessness Plan was presented to members.
Authored by Danielle Neilson, the city’s homelessness prevention and housing programs manager, the document is an update of the original plan presented to council in December 2013.
Ironically, the very next day a violent assault was reported at a large homeless encampment on the site of the former Victor Dana plant located behind Memorial Arena.
That led to the dismantling of the encampment on July 19.
Neilson’s report to council indicates the city has invested in and supported the development of an additional mix of 177 affordable, supportive and accessible units.
She lists some of the accomplishments of late including:
➢ the St. Thomas-Elgin By Name List which identifies people experiencing homelessness in real time and by name;
➢ a Coordinated Access System for matching people experiencing homelessness on the By Name List to supports;
➢ shifting from an overnight winter emergency shelter to a 24/7 housing-focused emergency shelter.
There are 558 units of city-owned and managed housing and 512 units of rent-geared-to-income housing.
“Pursue community partnerships and broaden community awareness while advocating to senior levels of government to ensure stable housing and poverty reduction for all residents.”
In 2022, through a partnership with the city, Indwell operated 16 self-contained micro-unit apartments of supportive housing for vulnerable people experiencing chronic homelessness, high acuity and high hospital recidivism.
The units, named Railway City Lofts, are located above the city’s transit building at 614 Talbot Street.
The city’s partnership with Indwell includes building an additional 45 units of supportive and affordable housing at 16 Queen Street known as The Station.
These units are expected to be ready for occupancy this summer.
Last year, the city’s emergency shelter The Inn served 217 individuals experiencing homelessness, an increase of 62 over the previous year when it operated as Inn Out of the Cold.
For 2022, that is a total of 12,364 bed nights.
➢ The average stay was 39 nights, an increase of 14 nights from the previous year.
➢ 36% of guests were women, a decrease of 12% from the previous year.
➢ 8% of guests were youth (ages 16 to 24), a decrease of 3% from the previous year.
➢ 23% of women and 36% of men stayed 1 to 10 nights total.
A strategic direction ahead advises Neilson, is to “Pursue community partnerships and broaden community awareness while advocating to senior levels of government to ensure stable housing and poverty reduction for all residents.”
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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.
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Who knows what lurks out of sight above Talbot Street?
We referred to them as the city’s forgotten apartments. A pair of decrepit hovels visible from the mayor’s office in city hall.
The first thing you noticed was the gaping holes where the ceilings had fallen away.
Patches of paint which had not yet floated to the floor cling tentatively to the walls.
In other areas, vast expanses of paint blistered like badly burned skin.
Missing tiles in one of the showers had been replaced with duct tape and garbage bags.
The remnants of a skylight were stuffed with a blanket and when it rained, water dripped to the floor and down the front stairs.
When this corner exposed those units in January of 2016 they were home to four tenants, seemingly off the radar of several departments at city hall.
Links to the trio of items written about those apartments and what might have been in the way of affordable housing back in 2016 can be found at the end of this item.
We reference these residences because how many other out-of-sight, out-of-mind units can be found up and down the Talbot Street core?
