By David Serafino
It’s important to take a position on the Crystal Beach Gateway Project.
Why? Because it means you can influence change.
An image of how the Port Dalhousie heritage district in St. Catharines, Ontario will look if and when 'Port Place' is built.
It is not essential that you do, but ideally, a democratic society hears all opinions. Opinions matter to varying degrees, but an informed opinion matters most. I don’t have one. At least not yet. At present, I choose to maintain objectivity through ignorance.
However, my experience in a similar situation has provided me with insights that I wish to share with the Crystal Beach community. Comparisons have been drawn between the Gateway and the condo development in Port Dalhousie. Port Place includes a 17 storey, 80 unit residential building, a 450 seat theatre, a 70 room boutique hotel and a public courtyard. I don’t know the features or layout of the Gateway but I do know that, like Port Place, it’s overlooking the beach.
When it comes time to take a position, I will begin by informing myself on the benefits and detriments of the project. I will ask this question first: ‘Does the project represent good planning and is it in the public interest?’
Then I will ask if public land is being sacrificed, compromised or restricted, or if it is being enhanced, beautified and made more accessible. I’ll also ask if, as a result of the development, more people will be able to enjoy the waterfront with a greater variety of amenities. Then I’ll ask how many of those who currently live there will suffer from a reduced quality of life and how many will benefit from an increased quality of life. For me, that may be all the information I need to form an opinion. For others, it may be even less.
Take, for instance, a long time resident of the neighbourhood who does not want to see change or to suffer the months of construction. This is a legitimate complaint on which to base an opinion. The same goes for someone who visits the area often and doesn’t want to see a condo building where open space once existed. A birder may not want to see a building on a flight path.
The Port Dalhousie heritage district as it looks today.
On the flip side, a business owner may support the development because it will increase business. A homeowner perceiving an increased property value may be a supporter whereas one fearing an increase in taxes may oppose the project. These opinions and more must all be taken into account and weighed against the greater good.
Personal concerns matter, but they don’t necessarily outweigh the wants and opinions of the electorate, municipal council or city planners. What does carry weight is the opinion of the affected neighbourhood, particularly if it is the predominant viewpoint. From what I do know about Crystal Beach, as is the case in Port Dalhousie, the community is split on being for or against the proposal. This is not a bad thing if handled in a mature and courteous manner.
This is how democracy should work. Underlying the process is the element of truth. If both sides argue the facts, then the better argument will win the day. This only happened in Port Dalhousie long after the hostilities began and then only under the terms of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). In the OMB hearing, where only facts come to bear, the anti-tower side lost. Where they had won, though now inconsequential, was in the minds of a gullible public. Hearsay substitutes for fact by those who choose to hear only what they want to believe. And, for many, “development” is a poison and “heritage” the antidote.
Facts only work in a public relations battle when they support your case. Misrepresenting such is the alternative strategy and one that should be avoided if planning to win the final battle. As long as the issue is heading to the OMB anyway, stick to the truth because it will eventually come out. I don’t believe Crystal Beach is a heritage district. Port Dalhousie is and, since approving Port Place, the OMB has come under severe criticism.
While acknowledging that the hearing was fair, the losing side now claims that the “loss” at the OMB spells doom for heritage districts across Ontario. Nothing could be further from the truth. Had the OMB ruled against Port Place, essentially stating that heritage concerns trump all other matters such as official plan, zoning, smart growth, Places to Grow legislation and such, then no municipality in its right mind would ever create another heritage district. At least not where there is potential to revitalize a historic area with new and adaptive re-construction.
A municipalities’ major revenue source is from property taxes and councils have a responsibility to minimize tax increases by creating more tax assessment. This is accomplished through development, and heritage districts are not necessarily exempt from development.
Designated heritage districts serve to maintain the character and architecture of older areas. Rules are established to ensure that the built heritage remains and that inappropriate developments don’t intrude. In some cases, this may wisely freeze development. In other cases it may allow for new construction and adaptive re-use of buildings in order to breathe life into an area or to allow a historic building to become financially viable thereby saving if from deterioration.
Each district must be evaluated for its own merits. To say that revitalizing Port Dalhousie’s commercial core threatens heritage districts across the province is a ludicrous argument.
The OMB was not evaluating heritage districts in general when it ruled in favour of the Port Place development. The decision does not establish a precedent nor does it automatically mean that a condo complex would now be appropriate for any or all heritage districts. Regardless of whether Crystal Beach is a heritage district or not, the question on the minds of Fort Erie ratepayers should be whether or not the Gateway represents good planning and is in the public interest.
The answer to this requires research, and groups on both sides of the argument would be wise to share all information with their neighbours. Stick to the facts. Don’t lie, misrepresent or mislead. It will come back to haunt you.
(David Serafino has published Dalhousie Peer Magazine for the past 13 years out of his home in the former village of Port Dalhousie where he has lived for 33 years. A preservationist who believes in adaptive re-use of heritage buildings as a means to preserving heritage, he supports the Port Place development recently approved for the commercial core.)
(Click on www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to our greater Niagara region .)
Niagara At Large 
Amen.
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What do you think os Jane Jacobs’ remarks regarding the Port Dalhousie situation? Published on the PROUD website?
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The OMB decision was a disgrace.
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David Serafino takes a reasonable and well-reasoned position here, and his arguments would be excellent…if decisions, such as that concerning the Port Dalhousie Tower and the Crystal Beach project, actually were determined by “the public interest” and “the greater good”. Those are nice phrases, but they leave out the question of who determines “the public interest” and “the greater good”, based on what criteria, and how self-interested the actual decision-makers may be.
I agree with Serafino, that citizens should get informed and think carefully before they take a position. Unfortunately, that in and of itself is no guarantee that their concerns will be acknowledged as legitimate, let alone that they will affect the final decision. “The facts” are always subject to interpretation, even when they are not manipulated.
I certainly hope that citizens opposed to the Crystal Beach project will be taken seriously, and their concerns given due weight. Unfortunately, the long battle against the NHS’ Hospital Improvement Plan does not tend to give one confidence that democracy is alive and well in the province of Ontario. Would that it were.
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I think the supporters of the Port Tower will be in for a surprise because once this monstrosity is built, if it ever gets there, I wonder if there will be enough of a “market” for it to pay for itself.
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In Port Dalhousie residents were given a choice in supporting either the existing “Heritage District” as it is today, or the existing “Heritage District” along with the construction of “Port Place” ?
In Fort Erie it’s a bit different.
Anyone that visits the existing Town Of Fort Erie Crystal Beach Waterfront Park would agree that it’s current state is unacceptable and everyone knows it simply can’t be allowed to remain. The “option” that’s being offered here is either this embarrassing status quo or the proposed “Gateway Plan”.
It was a good friend, a supporter of the proposal and a sitting Fort Erie Councilor, that brought to my attention that the only existing alternative is “The Gateway Plan” and nothing else. Frankly, he’s absolutely right…
There really is NO CHOICE !
And that’s what the difference and the problem IS.
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Sharon Bowers,
What a brilliant mind Jane Jacobs had to have written “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”. At age 89, while convalescing from recent surgery, she received a letter from Ken MacKenzie of PROUD regarding the original design for Port Place which included a 27-storey condo building. When her response was read to city council, Councillor Erskine asked if she could see MacKenzie’s letter but was later told that it was unavailable because PROUD does not retain all of its correspondence. It seems we’ll never know exactly what Jacobs based her opinion on but we do know (from her own comments) that it was written in haste and not in relation to the current design.
Fiona McMurran,
In response to your question of “who determines ‘the public interest’ and ‘the greater good’ and on what criteria?”, I have to answer that it was the unbiased decision of the OMB Chair who detailed her reasoning in a 71 page report. There comes a time when one has to accept decisions arrived at through public debate and an impartial legal process. To do otherwise would mean that we would never move forward as a united community.
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The OMB board was a Harris appointee. Need I say more.
Screw moving forward “as a united community”.
In a democracy you can agree to disagree. Suck it up. This is the 2009 version of Corblock – a ballocks.
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Ms. Alder is an angry lady that hasn’t learned it seems to move on. You lost, now try to understand how you can help Port Dalhousie with Port Place instead of trying to hurt it still. Port Place will be built notwithstanding Ms. Browne’s economics lesson. I can hardly wait for the hoarding to go up and the ceremonial first shovel to go in the ground. You are all welcome to attend this historic occasion in the canal village’s next life. Today’s waterfront revitalization development will become tomorrow’s heritage. Embrace it!
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To Sheridan Alders comments ….
1) Mayor Brian McMullan by Ms Alders admission was elected as her choice …need I say more
2) “Screw moving forward” is her position, exactly the obvious visible hate, fear mongering and vengence that heritage activists tend to display. Not healthy to any community.
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This project there planning is stupid. They are taking away St. Catharines’ best attractions. Lots of children grew up in Port Dalousie. I am one of them and this place will be sadly missed. But the memories will never fade.
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Everybody here thinks that this new development is junk and has no democracy with it what so ever. You guys are missing the big point here, the side to build the new development won the argument! Nobody here has thought about how much good will come from this! This new development will bring more buissness, it will bring new jobs for people, it will bring entertainment (considering the new theartre), it will help prevent polution from gas because instead of dirving all the way to the Pen Centre, more people will drive less and shop in Port Place, it will increase other peoples property value so they can get more money if they want to sell, it will look beautiful instead of looking bad, bigger tourist attraction, it will bring more homes for people to choose from, and it will bring great memories to Port Dalhousie. Just think of this as a “new beginning”. I’m only a kid and I can picture in my mind how great this new development will be. Think of it that way.
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