Hello all, I'd love your thoughts on this:
https://thesarniajournal.ca/hundreds...for-the-point/
Could we make this into a design exercise for the forumers? Small city waterfront master-planning? Eh?
I thought this lot at the end of Exmouth Street was always wooded because it was government or industry owned. It was just sold to a developer who wants to build a retirement community of single residential homes, apparently so many that it would take the entire lot up. I think this is a very VERY poor proposal, as it is a massive and central woodland in the city, located near water on several sides, and ripe with more development potential than is proposed. I hate to think that small Ontario cities like Point Edward/Sarnia will build whatever a developer wants just to have growth, without thinking long term in the future of what that growth actually provides for the city/cities as a whole. The density of any development, especially in such a prime location, should not simply replicate a cookie-cutter suburban model already built in spades on the outskirts in the Sarnia area.
My thoughts insofar, but amenable to other considerations:
- Save upwards of half of it as a parkland connecting the Pt Edward waterfront to the Sarnia waterfront
- Enrich said parkland as an arboretum of sorts with rare or lost local specimens, as well as some that are likely to appear with a warming climate (kentucky coffee trees, tulip trees, hickory, paw paw, etc...)
- Consider post-pandemic urban development (senior-friendly, of course, as the region is increasingly a retirement community for Ontario, but also for other demographics)
- Increase the density of the remaining area from single homes to row homes or medium height towers with pedestrian walkways and small commercial or restaurant spaces, parking underneath (Sarnia/PT Edward is the least walkable and most car friendly city in the country, and so making spaces for cars will [sadly imho] require a lot per unit at least, even if this is intended to be more for seniors, some of whom may not be able to drive).
- If the city area ever gets a university, or increases research and development branches of potential high-tech and cleaner energy sectors, this will be a prime central area to live. Again, design it for this potential mix of demographics.
- If the government port berths ever move in the next 50-100 years, or for that matter the silos, this will be pure waterfront property linking Sarnia to Pt Edward. Cathedral thinking used here.
- Pedestrain bridges connecting over to the marina and casino
I am just concerned that this whole thing is going to turn a very rare large central parcel of land into a wasted opportunity with a few hundred single homes in the middle of an urban area. The current plan just doesn't make sense to me.