Community Consultation: Sarnia General Site Redevelopment.

From Tyler Kula, Sarnia Observer.

Some love it; some want more residential.

There wasn’t much room in the middle Tuesday as about 50 people took in the preliminary – a point stressed by proponents – plans for the former Sarnia General Hospital property, should city council give rezoning approval.

“All along we’ve tried to do what the community wants,” said Mark Lumley, one of five businessmen – branded GFive Inc. – tearing down the 1890s-built hospital to make way for new residential, commercial and medical on three hectares (7.5 acres) of land.

Coming out of community consultations last year, what the community wanted first and foremost was to get rid of the blighted buildings, then get mixed-use new builds in, he said.

“That’s what we tried to do here.”

The proposal is tweaked from GFive’s original pitch last summer, when city council agreed to sell 220 Mitton St. and 327 George St. to the group for $1,000 – conditional on GFive knocking down the former hospital and auxiliary buildings and tearing out asbestos, and with more than $5 million thrown in from city coffers to help with demolition cost.

That work is on track to be done by August, Lumley said.

Where the original proposal had two residential lots on Mackenzie Street, the new version instead has three potential Habitat for Humanity build sites on Bright Street.

Eight residential lots are also proposed for Essex Street.

Link to the rest here.

Image. Google Maps.

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Housing Crisis Hits Them All, Big and Small: a Global Problem.

From Benjamin Schneider, CityLab.

From reading the press, you’d think the housing crisis is mainly relevant to superstar cities like New York, London, and San Francisco. But housing is becoming increasingly expensive in a wide range of cities, including Philadelphia and Detroit. And the worst of the housing crisis by far is not in the wealthy cities of the advanced world, but in the rapidly urbanizing cities of the developing world, where hundreds of millions of people live in substandard housing, lacking electricity, running water, or basic sanitation.

The global housing crisis reflects a fundamental paradox of contemporary capitalism. Cities around the world are more economically powerful and essential than ever. This creates tremendous demand for their land, leading to escalating housing costs and competition.

Meanwhile, housing has been financialized and turned into an investment vehicle, which has caused an oversupply of luxury housing and a lack of affordable housing in many cities across the world. The global housing crisis is defined by a chronic shortage of housing for the least advantaged, and in many cases, for the working and middle classes as well.

Although increasing the housing supply and strengthening renter protections are necessary and important steps, cities alone cannot address the deep structural problem of housing affordability. Where possible, higher levels of government and international development organizations will need to step in to rein in financialization and provide the affordable housing that is so badly needed. But if past is precedent, cities will remain stuck with many of these burdens, and will have to come up with creative solutions to this crisis.

Link to the rest here.

Image. Google Maps.

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Hospital Demolition Continues.

From Tyler Kula, Sarnia Observer.

As rubble sorting continues on the site of the former Sarnia General Hospital, community members are being invited to weigh plans for the land’s redevelopment.

Five local businessmen – GFive Inc. – behind the proposal for new residential, commercial and medical-use buildings at the 7.5-acre George and Mitton streets land parcels are inviting the public to comment on their plan April 17, 6:30 p.m. at the Lochiel Kiwanis Community Centre.

The invite comes as the group has formally submitted for rezoning with the city, said Kenn Poore, one of GFive’s members.

Hopes are the proposal comes to council sometime in May for a decision, he said.

Meanwhile, the group wants to hear from the public, he said.

“We’ve delivered flyers to all of the neighbours there now, inviting them to come and comment and ask questions,” he said.

“So we hope that some of them do turn up.”

The proposal, Poore said, is mostly unchanged from the vision presented last year before council agreed to sell the city-owned properties for $1,000 – conditional on GFive knocking down the former hospital and auxiliary buildings and tearing out asbestos, and with more than $5 million from city coffers thrown in to help with demolition costs.

Link to the rest here.

Image. Zach Neal.

Thank you for reading.