Canal plan floated for downtown
'This provides a sense of community, identity and mixed use we have desired for the Western Super Anchor'
The Windsor Star - Monday, July 28, 2008
Mayor Eddie Francis will today unveil an ambitious water and boardwalk concept for the Western Super Anchor properties he believes can finally help transform the downtown dead zone.
A large cut into the shoreline that would bring the Detroit River inland near Caron Avenue and create a waterway to house a new marina is a major component of the proposal developed by Toronto urban designer Calvin Brook. The 40-foot-deep basin would be shadowed by a combined condo and retail development.
Also included in Brook's concept is conversion of a three-block stretch of either Pitt Street or Chatham Street into a new east-west 20-foot-deep canal filled with municipal -- not Detroit River -- water that eventually travels north back toward the riverfront on property just west of the art gallery.
"Now that the casino (expansion) is open people have been saying 'What can we do to spur people and attract them to the city?'" Francis said.
"This provides a sense of community, identity and mixed use we have desired for the Western Super Anchor. It all translates into economic benefits. The time for this is right.
"This project is not going to be up and running tomorrow, but it's a plan for the future. We get asked to make a decision and that's what we are doing."
While the idea of cutting the river inland in the area near Caron has been a concept thrown around since the mid-1980s, the idea of adding a downtown canal is new, driven by what's been done in cities such as San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
The mayor credits city solicitor George Wilkki for suggesting it might work for Windsor, during a recent city strategic planning session. Brook has turned the idea into a reality in his renderings.
After today's unveiling, the next step calls for a three-month feasibility study to determine what's technically doable and what it would cost.
The mayor then hopes to stage several community open houses to gather feedback and gauge support for the plan.
There are no firm construction cost estimates for the plan, only early projections which suggest $60 million will be needed for the new waterway infrastructure -- roughly $30 million for the marina basin, $18 million for the canal and $12 million for site servicing.
But the mayor warned nothing is truly known financially until the feasibility study is completed.
The city is only to fund and help develop the water and walkway infrastructure under the plan. If the city builds the infrastructure, Francis hopes the private sector will come -- transforming a downtown western core into a destination of shops, residences, museums and restaurants.
"Our focus is on the infrastructure which will be a catalyst for the development," he said.
Windsor Family Credit Union, through president Marty Komsa, has offered to help pay some of the anticipated $65,000 cost to do the feasibility study and the mayor is seeking other private support. He hopes to get the study underway by late August.
Brook was instrumental in developing the central riverfront implementation plan for Windsor in the mid-1990s and was part of the former Killer Bs' downtown arena proposal. He received $10,000 for his latest rendering for the city.
He has developed a waterfront plan for Toronto and recently co-authored a study proposing the transformation of that city's elevated Gardiner Expressway with a network of public spaces, buildings and landscapes as an alternative to demolition.
He was in Scotland on Monday and could not be reached for comment.
Former MPP and NDP cabinet minister Dave Cooke, who returned from Toronto in April to again reside in Windsor, has been recruited by the mayor to help push the concept toward reality.
Cooke became intrigued because he believes the proposal offers more bang for the Western Super Anchor site originally than previous plans. The land, behind the art gallery, was originally consolidated by the city for an arena that's now being built in the east end and most recently was touted for a University of Windsor engineering campus, which the university decided to instead locate on campus.
"I just think this is so different than building an arena or engineering building that attempted to be the 'one thing,'" said Cooke, chairman of the University of Windsor's board of governors. "This is a concept that attracts not only people visiting the city, but for people living here to come back downtown.
"This is how we can integrate the waterfront into downtown. Today you get one block way and you don't know the water is there. This has amazing potential. This will get people going back and forth. This will bring the waterfront into the city."
He believes the concept offers Windsor a chance to change its reputation.
"You want people living, working and playing in a downtown mixed-use area," Cooke said. "There are challenges. This will not happen overnight. But this is a link on what we can do to attract investment. This will create jobs."
City planner Thom Hunt described the proposal as an exciting project that offers an opportunity to connect people with the waterfront in the downtown core.
"The central riverfront plan called for a linkage from downtown to the waterfront and this plan puts into images how to accomplish that," Hunt said. "The opportunities are dynamic.
"People are attracted to water. They want to sit near it, look at it. This actually brings those elements downtown. It's exciting and you want to get to a point where we can start to build it. The location, proximity to downtown and proximity to water features will be a good market."
There are also early ongoing port authority talks about launching a new Windsor-Detroit ferry taxi service which also could be tied to the proposal, the mayor said.
"The city is not getting involved with any of the developments," he said. "The city will be doing what we should be -- investing in infrastructure. By doing this, we give the city a chance to do bigger and better things.
"It's not pie-in-the-sky because people understand the significance of the riverfront. We will put it out there and see what the community reaction will be."
Artist drawing of the Western Super Anchor site. The new plan features a canal and urban village between Caron Avenue and Church Street bound by the Detroit River and University Avenue.
Photograph by : Handout photo
Prev
). Is it still like that, or has the high dollar noticeably reduced the nightlife? 
Linear Mode
