Windsor’s mayor says he ‘wholeheartedly disagrees" with the characterization of where negotiations stand between the city and the company that owns the Ambassador Bridge over land in the west end.
The Canadian Transit Company (CTC), the company that owns the bridge, issued a statement Thursday after the city announced that it was beginning the process to expropriate 45 vacant and boarded homes in the Sandwich Town neighbourhood.
A number of the properties are owned by companies associated with the owners of the Ambassador Bridge, which have been the focus of multiple legal battles with the city for several decades.
Part of the statement calls it “an unnecessary conflict” and says that there is a solution that would result in the demolition of the homes and transfer almost all of the properties to the city.
“The City is well aware that CTC has been willing to do so for years in exchange for those portions of roadways needed for our plaza expansion project. In fact, City Council approved the transaction in principle. Instead of completing the transaction, the City ceased negotiating with us and has been unwilling to meet in 2026,” the statement says.
Dilkens says it’s news to him that there was an agreement in principle.
“Certainly, the City of Windsor maintains an openness to wanting to sit down and resolve all of the issues. This ought not to cost millions of dollars and ought not to be litigated,” he says. “If they were willing to transfer these properties to begin with, why would they fight us if we’re going to expropriate them and pay them fair market value plus the expropriation cost? It would make no sense.”
Dilkens says “if they actually decide to fight us and go through a hearing of necessity and go to court over this particular issue, it should tell the residents they were never prepared to settle in the first place,” he says.
The CTC wants certain properties for its plaza expansion project at the foot of the bridge. The new commercial vehicle inspection plaza is allowed under a federal permit issued in 2017.
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 been trying to work through a comprehensive agreement with the CTC for many years to address the outstanding issues.
“When we get to the fourth and goal, the finish line, they have a change that’s required. It’s like they don’t want to complete the deal. It’s interesting to hear they want to complete the deal. If that’s in fact the case, we always maintain an openness to sit down and have a conversation that will allow this to move forward. We haven’t proven to be able to get very far since 2017,” he says.
The majority of homes under the expropriation list 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.
Click here to read the full statement from the CTC.