Tear Down the Old Sarnia General Hospital.

Zach Neal.

From Barbara Simpson, Sarnia Observer.

Demolish the former Sarnia General Hospital buildings.

That’s the message Sarnia’s elected officials and city staff heard loud and clear Tuesday from the public at the second of two consultant-facilitated input meetings held on the future of the derelict hospital site.

Demolition was ranked the No. 1 priority by those in attendance at Tuesday’s public meeting, followed in second by a need to motivate city council and staff to take action.

“I think it comes down to people wanting us to move quickly on this because this has been an issue for five years now,” city/county Coun. Anne Marie Gillis said following Tuesday’s meeting.

About 50 people – including a mix of neighbours, elected officials and city staff, and at least one developer – turned out for the public input workshop held at the Lambton College Event Centre Tuesday night.

The two-hour workshop – led by consultant Bryan Boyle – saw participants list and rank the merits and challenges of redeveloping the former hospital site, as well as possible redevelopment opportunities and actions that can be taken.

Link to the rest here.

Editorial Opinion:

It would be extremely unfair to municipal ratepayers to be asked to pay $8.8 million to demolish the old Sarnia General Hospital, only to sell the land to private developers for what, $800,000.00, or $1.1 million, or whatever it turns out to be. This is why city council hasn’t already moved on it, when clearly it is a job that needs to be done. The province downloaded all these ‘assets’ when they switched over to the LHINs, (local health integration networks), some years ago, and therefore the province certainly should bear some of the costs. We see it as a possible partnership—bearing in mind the federal government’s alleged renewed commitment to affordable housing in Canada. If the costs were split four ways, it would be $2.2 million each, city, province, federal government and private developer.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a 25 % split for each party. This could be subject to a process of negotiation, assuming some concrete proposals by developers.

The end result would be a ratio of geared-to-income, affordable, and executive suites, with a hundred or two new housing units. That mix of income levels is necessary in order to prevent the development from becoming a 'human zoo', or perhaps public blight is a better term.

The developer would of course get all kinds of corporate welfare, including some assistance with construction costs, deferred taxes, etc. This would be designed to compensate them for the higher asking price for the serviced land, which clearly makes the initial capital investment more difficult to justify to company shareholders.

Thank you for reading.

Comet Biorefining Hot for Sarnia-Lambton.

Photo by Riin Tamm, (Wiki.)

From Paul Morden and the Sarnia Observer.


There isn't a better place in the world than Sarnia-Lambton for Comet Biorefining's first commercial plant to extract cellulosic sugars from corn stalks and leaves, and wheat stalks, says the company's founder.

Andrew Richard, founder of the London-based company, spoke Tuesday during a demonstration day held by a new farm co-op established to supply corn stover and wheat straw to Comet's proposed new Sarnia manufacturing plant.

Farmland in Lambton and surrounding areas is “some of the most productive acres you'll find in North America,” Richard said.

And it's near Sarnia where so much of the infrastructure a new industry requires can be found, and where Comet already has industrial customers for its sugar, he said.

“It's a phenomenal place to start from.”

Comet Biorefining plans to have a manufacturing plant built and operating on the TransAlta site in Sarnia by 2018.

Richard said Comet is also likely to move its offices from London to Sarnia, “as we get ready to roll out this first facility.”


Link to the rest of the story here.

1,500 Rescued as River Float-Down Goes Awry.

Photo courtesy Shelley Ambroise.

From the Sarnia Observer, staff writers.

Hundreds of Port Huron Float Down participants had to be rescued after strong winds pushed them to the Canadian side of the St. Clair River late Sunday afternoon.

Sarnia-Lambton first responders – along with the RCMP and Canadian Coast Guard water units – spent several hours Sunday assisting float down participants stranded along the river from Sarnia down through to Corunna.

Read more here.

From Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer

Canadian Coast Guard officials knew Sunday's unsanctioned St. Clair River Float Down was a disaster in the making.

Sarnia Police said in press release a convoy of Sarnia Transit buses carried approximately 1,500 U.S. citizens over the Blue Water Bridge Sunday evening after they were blown to the Canadian shore while taking part in the annual float down the river on inflatable rafts, from Port Huron lighthouse to Marysville, Mich.

“It's exactly what we saw coming,” said Peter Garapick, superintendent of search and rescue for the Canadian Coast Guard.

He was on the water, along with crews from the coast guard, fire departments in Sarnia and Point Edward, the OPP and RCMP, as well as their counterparts in the U.S. side of the border.

The float down is a summer tradition going back several decades and has continued despite attempts by U.S. officials to scuttle it, and despite the drowning of a U.S. participant in 2014.

Sunday's weather conditions were “almost the worst-case scenario,” Garapick said.

Read the rest here.

Minor injuries reported from folks climbing the seawall. (Photo Shelley Ambroise.)

From Paul Morden, Sarnia Observer

It cost the City of Sarnia $8,181.77 in total to help rescue approximately 1,500 Americans who participated in Sunday’s Port Huron Float Down event, but Mayor Mike Bradley doesn't expect the city will be able to recover those costs anytime soon.

The total cost, which includes overtime costs and additional expenses incurred by various city departments, was released Tuesday afternoon.

A media release says city services that incurred costs included Sarnia Police Service ($3,405.92), Sarnia Transit ($1,977.97), Public Works ($712.40), Sarnia Fire Rescue Services ($1,435.88), and Parks and Recreation ($649.60).

Sarnia officials are expected to meet later this week to review the operation that saw approximately 1,500 U.S. participants in the annual unsanctioned event who were blown off course from the Michigan side of the river and landed unexpectedly in Sarnia.

They were helped from the water, over several hours, gathered up by Sarnia police, and loaded on Sarnia Transit buses called in to carry the stranded “floaters” over the Blue Water Bridge and back to the U.S.

Read the rest here.

Photo by Shelley Ambroise.

Additional Coverage

Cost Frustrates Mayor. (CBC)

Floaters Washed Ashore. (CBC)

END

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Changes Coming to Howard Watson Trail

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From Carl Hnatyshyn, Postmedia Network

Changes are coming to Sarnia's Howard Watson Nature Trail, according to Bluewater Trails committee head Tony Barrand and Return The Landscape's Felicia Syer — changes that will make the trail more accessible for those with disabilities or mobility issues, more appealing for families, cyclists and joggers and a lot more environmentally friendly.

Barrand and Syer spoke about the 16-kilometre long pathway during this week’s meeting of Green Drinks Sarnia.

The Bluewater Trails committee, a committee of Sarnia city council, oversees 60 kilometres of trails in Sarnia, but Barrand said the Howard Watson Nature Trail is one of Sarnia’s natural gems, a natural space used by tens of thousands of people every year.

“In 1994, the City of Sarnia had students count the number of trail users between June and September,” he said. “Back then, the trail had 10,000 users over the summer. I think if we did counting now, we'd probably be well over 20,000 users. More and more people want to be active, so there are many more people using the trail.”


Link to the rest of the story here.