A win for now, but questions linger

Councillors were breaking their own rules inside the council chambers after hearing the news.

They clapped and cheered as Mayor John Henry made the announcement that the ethanol refinery on Oshawa’s waterfront had finally be put out of its misery.

The project has been dragging along for nearly five years, refusing to die, hovering over the waterfront like a storm cloud waiting to burst .

However, it seems the storm has finally vanished for now, but if the city and the port want to move forward, they need to cut the childish name calling and start working together. There also remains several questions that need to be answered.

No ethanol plant at the Oshawa harbour means the city can move ahead with developing its vision for high density residential along Harbour Road. Currently, city staff are developing a community improvement plan to provide incentives for developers with projects in the area, something they may be slightly more willing to do now that the possibility of an ethanol plant around the corner is finally gone.

The news is also good for the port authority and the lands which have been sitting in limbo since 2012 when the plant was approved. It is still zoned industrial, and it will more than likely see several parties swoop in to get a piece of prime shipping real estate bordering Lake Ontario.

However, the big question still remains. At what cost was this final deal made?

Nothing has been shared about the deal that punched FarmTech’s ticket out of the city. They may be leaving, but what are they taking with them? One could assume there is a dollar figure attached to this deal, but because the case was a private arbitration, as opposed to a lawsuit, these details may never be made public, unless the port, looking to turn a new leaf after all this mess, wants to open the door and finally let the public in.

And if the city and the port both want to move forward in developing the waterfront, the ivory towers need to come down. For years, both sides have simply slung rocks at each other in the media, only meeting face to face on an annual basis in an explosive annual general meeting.

In the near future, both sides need to get into a room together, take a deep breath, and work out a plan to move forward, but for now, it’s time to celebrate a victory for Oshawa’s waterfront.