Heavy lifting ahead for Oshawa’s Harbour Lands
The city has received a draft certificate of property use from the province for the harbour lands, the next step in getting the property ready for its future as a park, marina and more. The city has until October 2018 to complete the project.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
The City of Oshawa is one step closer to receiving the proper paper work in order to move ahead with developing the harbour lands, but there is a long way to go before they will be open to the public.
According to the latest document received from the province, there are a number of erosion controls, contamination remediation measures and programs that need to be put in place before the land can be open to the public and developers.
The requirement of the draft certificate of property use (CPU) received by the city from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change was detailed in a recently released city report. The CPU is the next step in the provincial approval process that will eventually lead to a record of site condition (RSC). The RSC will allow the city to move forward with the requirements detailed under the settlement agreement the city reached with the federal government when it took back the land. The agreement dictates the city must use the land for recreational uses, including a public marina.
Before the public can get their first look at the harbour lands, the city must construct erosion controls to prevent the flow of contaminants around the site. It also must construct a soil cap for the same purpose, something it just recently received the go ahead to do.
The CPU also dictates a number of programs the city must implement in the years ahead to monitor the success of the contaminant remediation controls, health and safety plans for any construction that takes place below grade, and conduct a vegetative inventory of the plants and trees currently calling the lands home.
A number of other restrictions control the type of development on the site and measures in place to further prevent any contamination from leaking from the site.
For Mayor John Henry, this is another successful step forward for Oshawa’s waterfront. Oshawa recently received news that the ongoing arbitration between the Oshawa Port Authority and FarmTech had concluded with the decision that no ethanol plant would be built on the waterfront.
“We have an opportunity to do something really big here now. This is the start,” Henry says. “There’s a great future for Oshawa’s waterfront and I’m looking forward to being part of that over the next couple years.”
The city must have the land opened for public use by October 2018 after receiving an extension from the federal government earlier this year.
The many requirements in the CPU will come with related price tags, something the report explains will be addressed during future budget discussions.
However, it’s not something Henry says he is concerned about at this time.
The draft CPU will currently sit in a legislative public consideration process for the next 30 days before a final approval is given to the city, unless an appeal is filed with the Environmental Review Tribunal.
Once the final approval is given, the remediation work can begin.