By Doug Draper
The debate over a controversial plan to erect a 12-storey condo tower in front of one of the last stretches of lakeshore in the Fort Erie community of Crystal Beach open to the public raged on in the Sunday edition of The Buffalo News this Feb. 7.
The developer's image of a high-storey, big box condo that has become a subject of controversy over future development in the historic Fort Erie community of Crystal Beach.
The condo plan, as the front-page story in The Buffalo News reports, has received the support of Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin and a majority on his council, even as it has drawn waves of opposition from residents – dividing this historic beachfront community as the council prepares to vote this March 1 on changing its height regulations to permit the tower.
The Buffalo News story, which you can read by clicking on the following link http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/948395.html, quotes Martin at one point saying: “There will be those who see it (the condo plan) as a great beginning, the cornerstone of the redevelopment of Crystal Beach, and there will always be those who will wish for older days when the (Crystal Beach amusement) part was still there and it had a small-town collage atmosphere… I think the new history of Crystal Beach begins with this project.”
On the other hand, Wayne Redekop, a former Fort Erie mayor who once supported the idea of selling some of the land in front of what is actually known as Bay Beach in the Crystal Beach area to generate revenue for buying up more lakefront for public use, is thumbs down on this particular project in a community of mostly one or two-cottages and businesses.
“I think the 12-story condominium is completely out of character with the neighborhood. I think it’s pitting people of good faith against each other, creating problems for the municipality in terms of trying to move forward, and I think it appears very much as if the council is trying to ram something through,” Redekop said.
Later this week, Niagara At Large will feature an article by a long-time resident and preservationist from the Port Dalhousie area of Niagara about the battle he and his neighbours found to keep a high-rise tower from being built in that lakeshore community. The article will also discuss the disturbing precedent the Ontario Municipal Board and provincial government have set by giving a green light to this plan in a designated heritage district.
In the meantime, click on the story in The Buffalo News and read the story headlined ‘A line in the sand at Crystal Beach’ and consider sharing your views on this issue with Niagara At Large in the comment boxes below.
There is a great deal at stake here, not only from a planning point of view for our older waterfront communities (do we really want to begin to line the shores with high-rise condos?) and for what precious little is left for residents and visitors to our greater Niagara region to enjoy a walk along a beach without being chased away by nearby private property owners.
These are our Great Lakes and surely there should be a few open and accessible places left where we can all enjoy them!
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Niagara At Large 
Thanks for posting that, Doug. I think it is a well-balanced and fair article and I’m glad that the Buffalo News has shown interest in it. Our local papers have not been as fair in their coverage of this issue. I look forward to the article about Port Dalhousie as I have been watching that situation and other recent OMB decisions very carefully. You might want to take a look at a recent one in the Beaches area of Toronto that went the other way – in favour of the people. I believe it is precendent-setting and gives those of us who may have to face the OMB about the Bay Beach Issue some hope after all.
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We now have HARD FACTS proving there is strong opposition to this high-rise project. Of the people who sent written comments to the town clerk prior to the public meeting, 116 opposed the Town’s high-rise project and only 20 individuals favoured it – a ratio of nearly 6 to 1. Counting all the proxies and petitions that were turned in during the meeting, the ratio is over 20 to 1 against the project. Any way you cut it, there is OVERWHELMING OPPOSITION to the Town’s plan to build a 12-storey condo tower at Bay Beach!
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Because talk is cheap, I fear that the “powers that be” will promise anything to get their way re : building the condos….. they will say it will still be accessible to the public ,plus , plus ,plus…… then when its built and the public disturb the life style created there for the condo dwellers, all will change & the public will suffer.
If they can do what they did with the hospital right under our noses and continue to say all’s well they can do it with the beach front and the public will be in the same boat as with the hospital.
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Thank you for this post and blog. Since moving out of WNY I’ve been trying to keep up-to-date on this issue and I appreciate your concise, well-written, un-pretentious, balanced post. I look forward to checking it regularly!
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Given the great possiblity that building this condo will limit our future access to the lakefront , I am disgusted that the Ontario Shorewalk Association is not opposing this development. Is the president of this association a coward, or is he one of the backroom boys that seem to be pulling all the strings in this project?
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I am against any condo development on Public Beach properties. a 12 story tower on Bay Beach is an example of Municipal Planning at its worst. The Town of Fort Erie politicians seem very desperate to buy into a developers plan – without considering the negative impact on the community.
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