Railway Museum housing plan 'off track': Neighbours
A petition opposing the sale of lands next to the Elgin County Railway Museum in St. Thomas is gaining ‘traction.’
Neighbours and heritage advocates worry a development will urbanize open space.
But the museum and the developer paint a different picture.
Terry Mason is opposing the plan and has started a petition.
He lives amongst several blocks of heritage homes near the site.
“If we’re going to call ourselves ‘the Railway City,’ what are you doing selling the land?” he asked.
Terry Mason, seen on May 2, 2024. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London)
Local developer Doug Tarry has agreed to pay the museum $2.4 million for eight of sixteen (6.47 hectares) it currently holds.
“It’s not parkland. This is actually toxic soil,” Tarry told CTV News London Thursday. “We’ve got to have some way of remediation and to turn into something for people and their families.”
Tarry said it will cost millions more to clean up the space.
But he’s committed to the project and said it will include green areas, “We want to see parkland down here, but as part of an urban park, where we have housing and different things.”
Mason doesn’t agree. He contends larger park plans were scrapped.
“I mean, I’m going around telling everybody we’re going to have a beautiful park here and then we find out, no, no, they want to build 240 apartments,” said Mason.
Doug Tarry, seen on May 2, 2024. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London)
For its part, the railway museum wants to be a good neighbour.
Still, Board President Scott Sleightholm doesn’t deny the $ 2.4 million is desperately needed.
“Anything we can do to maintain and restore this building and this museum would be a win for the entire community,” he said.
Tarry predicts it will be at least three years before shovels go into the ground.
It is hoped that expected public meetings between now and then will keep the debate from going ‘off track.’
Tarry said a secondary planning process will soon be underway for the area.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Driver, 18, gets $3,000 ticket, 32 demerit points after speeding on Laval boulevard
A young driver received a hefty fine from Laval police after they say he was driving nearly 100 km/h over the posted speed limit.
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Custom baseball card released of Blue Jays fan struck in the face with foul ball
Liz McGuire, the Blue Jays fan who was struck in the face with a 110 m.p.h. foul ball last week, has been pictured on a custom baseball trading card applauding her fandom to the game.
As Canada warms, infectious disease risks spread north
Cases of Lyme disease have now increased more than 1,000 per cent in a decade as the warming climate pushes the boundaries of a range of pathogens and risk factors northward.
Blaine Higgs 'furious' over sexual education presentation
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has shared his anger on social media over a presentation in at least four high schools.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Why did the French Open cancel a farewell ceremony for Rafael Nadal? And why is he unseeded?
The French tennis federation put off holding a ceremony to celebrate Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros this year, because he has said this might not necessarily be his final appearance at the tournament he has won a record 14 times.
Search underway for missing swimmer on Lake St. Clair
A search is currently underway for a Michigan man who police said jumped into the waters of Lake St. Clair on Saturday afternoon and did not resurface.