The city is beginning the process to expropriate dozens of boarded-up, derelict, or vacant properties in the Sandwich Town neighbourhood in Windsor’s west end.
Mayor Drew Dilkens made the announcement Thursday in front of several boarded-up homes along Indian Road in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge.
Council voted unanimously to make the move during an in-camera meeting on July 27, the same day traffic began moving across the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor and Detroit.
Dilkens says they’ve been looking at everything that was happening in the lead up to the delayed opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge and decided now was the time to act.
“We want to rebuild neighbourhoods. Certainly 45 properties, being able to reactivate them and get them into the hands of people who actually want to see housing built in an area that’s more affordable in our city, I think, hits a lot of checked boxes. Certainly, at the conversation around the city council table, it was a unanimous vote to move forward and move forward now,” he says.
Companies associated with the owners of the Ambassador Bridge own a number of the properties in question, which have been at the centre of multiple legal battles with the city for several decades.
From 2017 to present, the city has been involved in a negotiation process over some of the properties, spending approximately $3 million in legal and professional fees in connection with negotiations.
Dilkens says they’ve worked in good faith every step of the way.
“There was a time when I said months ago that we’re not spending anymore money. We’re putting a pause on that because I don’t see a reasonable prospect of getting to the end,” he says. “Some of the properties in question were part of a transaction that would have been part of the overall deal, but we just can’t wait anymore.”
The city says the decision to expropriate 45 properties was made for the municipal purpose of the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the municipality, including neighbourhood stabilization, housing renewal, public safety, and community revitalization, in accordance with the Olde Sandwich Towne Community Improvement Plan.
The majority of homes are along Indian Road, Edison Street, Bloomfield Road, and Felix Avenue, but there are also homes on Rosedale Avenue, Elm Avenue, St. Antoine Street, and College Avenue.
Dilkens says this is about rebuilding neighbourhoods, but he doesn’t have a figure on how much it could cost the city until the process plays out.
“We’re going to have to spend initially to acquire the land. The goal is then to get it back into active use and get homes built on these 45 properties, which would then generate a sales transaction where the city would receive revenue from the sale of the land,” he says.
The city says over multiple years, the Chief Building Official (CBO) has also ordered the emergency demolition of various properties, and most recently, in July, the CBO issued orders for the emergency demolition of an additional 17 derelict residential properties that had become significant community safety hazards.