The mayor is calling this the biggest ever leap forward toward the preservation of Ojibway Shores.
The City of Windsor is looking to expropriate a property in Sandwich Town and swap it with the Port Authority for the 33-acre Ojibway Shores parcel.
Drew Dilkens believes after three years of negotiating and batting around a nunmber of ideas, city council has unanimously approved the expropriation, of land at 75 Mill St.
“The plans that are being put forward are exciting for the city, exciting for Sandwich Town," says Dilkens.
The city set aside $1.5-million a few years back for this very purpose.
“I think we're in the ballpark, and we've budgeted pretty darn close," says Dilkens.
The land at 75 Mill St. is in the trust of Michigan resident Michael Dorian Jr., who is worried he won't get fair market value.
“I'm not really keen on everything here," says Dorian, whose family has owned the vacant, but well-kept land for 25 years.
He tells CTV News he was blindsided by the city application and is prepared to fight it in court to get more than $2 million.
“It just doesn't look right to me,” says Dorian. “It doesn't sound, it's not all a coincidence, we sat on it all these years, OK, my dad's gone, bless his soul, and now they wanna grab the property 25 years later? So obviously I'm not happy."
He's not the only one.
Some Sandwich Town residents are upset over the prospect of losing some of the neighbourhood's best green space.
“Mr. Dorian has been so helpful to the people in Sandwich Town, to have the city treat him like this is very sad," says Terry Kennedy.
"Certainly expropriation is not something we do lightly," Dilkens counters. "If Ojibway Shores is important enough to us to make happen this is how we're going to make that deal happen."
If expropriation is successful, the city will essentially swap it with the port authority for the Ojibway Shores property.
The Windsor Port Authority has come under fire in recent years for its desire to develop Ojibway Shores, but a recent aboutface has created a sense of optimism for those fighting to save the environmentally sensitive land.
“The port authority at their annual meeting said they were taking it off the market. That's the best news I've heard in a long time, this is better news," said Tom Henderson, the chair of the public advisory committee for the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup.
“It's been road blocks here and there, but the whole key to it has been patience, no deal comes before its own time, and maybe the time has come," says Henderson.
The mayor predicts expropriation could take a while -- between six to eight months -- especially if it's being challenged.
In the meantime, the Port Authority is happy to see the city making moves.
New port CEO Steve Salmons says the parties are committed to making something happen once the I’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed.
Mayor Dilkens says if everything goes through, a portion of the Mill Street land will remain a public park. He also says the public should rest assured that future uses of the land won't be heavy industrial, piles of aggregate or any high-rise developments, because a "vision corridor" must be left intact from the Duff Baby House toward the river.
