Port Authority jump-starts Ojibway National Urban Park

It was a pivotal day for the creation of the Ojibway National Urban Park.

“Today does mark a moment in the development and creation of the Ojibway National Urban Park,” said Port Authority CEO Steve Salmons.

The Port Authority is promising to donate two parcels of land in Ojibway shores, totaling 10 acres, to Transport Canada and Parks Canada. The land is valued at about 4-million dollars. The real estate will be combined with 16 acres of Crown land.

“What is happening at the same time right now is negotiations, discussions between Parks Canada, Transport, and Port Authority, on the transfer of those three parcels of Crown lands,” said Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk, who is looking forward to making an announcement on that acquisition soon.

The Ojibway Shores area is about 33 acres, 26 of which is land with roughly seven acres of shoreline waterfront.

Two years ago, the federal government selected Windsor as one of six communities in Canada to build a new national urban park.

Kusmierczyk wouldn’t confirm nor deny speculation that landowners in the area of the proposed park are interested in offering their properties.

He did say he hopes the boundaries of the park will be bigger than what was originally planned for.

“I really hope that other land owners, private property owners, public property owners, step forward and be part of really, truly, this legacy that we are building here for generations to come,” Kusmierczyk said.

The Port Authority land transfer will not come with any financial gain, but it does give the Port an opportunity to be environmental stewards.

“If we are going to disrupt a shoreline for the necessary and essential construction of a port to move goods and services across our port we have a duty to replace that 2 to 1,” said Salmons.

The Port Authority plans to do that by committing to further develop seven acres of waterfront in the future into a fish habitat on their dime.

“Windsor has some very exciting and significant plans that we’ll be announcing over the next few months that will most likely obligate us to develop the shoreline and to replace the work we’re doing,” Salmons said.

Kusmierczyk hopes the project, which he said is on an accelerated timeline, can be done as soon as possible. He doesn’t anticipate the park taking more than two years to create.