Midland’s vacant 40 acre waterfront has been the subject of years of community consultations, master planning, three attempts at development – all resulting in townhome submissions. After we delivered on our promise to pause the townhome proposal and revisit the plans with our community this term we drafted this new vision statement and guiding principles that captured what we’d heard from our residents in the 2025 sessions we hosted.
I believe our community feedback (depicted below) is precisely what we need for our waterfront. It blends parks and recreational space, full public access to all 1100m of the shoreline and the kind of development that supports year-round attractions for residents and visitors alike. The work this term was not wasted and will be available to the next council to consider as the economy gets better and we find the funding to keep moving forward with our own designs and ultimately construction in phases.
Remember that the property needs tens of millions of dollars in remediation to make it compliant with the MECP requirements for the pollution from years of industrial use. We don’t have that kind of money and can’t simply tax our residents to get it so we need investment and time.
Perhaps now is the time to flip the script and make our designs then find funding to make them happen?
Do you agree with this vision? What are your thoughts about the guiding principles that came from the 2025 community engagement sessions? Are they all still valid? Candidates need to hear from you. Doing nothing is not a plan. Selling it off to developers for townhomes is not what we’ve been asked to consider. Choosing a council for next term that will learn from the past efforts and continue the journey to success is very important to Midland’s future.
Discover more from RE-ELECT BILL GORDON - MAYOR
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Certainly trust that next council will be able to push forward once the economic viability improves. Would, however, like to see proper policing and or physical restrictions placed on the waterfront trail so it is NOT used as a catch all transportation route for speeding packs of cyclists, off leash dogs, occasional motorcycles, and no blinding night lighting,
This sounds much better to build long term stability, growth and economic impact for the town. Use the resources available to make a destination place. Selling to a developer for short term gain and condos is not supporting the community.