The company linked to the Ambassador Bridge has filed a request for a hearing of necessity with the Ontario Land Tribunal, challenging the City of Windsor’s plan to expropriate 45 vacant and boarded-up properties in Sandwich Town. Mayor Drew Dilkens says the city recently received notice from the Canadian Transit Company (CTC) and will now proceed through the tribunal process. “We expected that they would probably do that, so it wasn’t a shock to us,” Dilkens said. The expropriations, approved by council in July, target properties the city says are needed for neighbourhood revitalization, housing renewal and public safety. Many are owned by companies associated with the owners of the Ambassador Bridge. No hearing date has been scheduled. The CTC previously argued expropriation would create unnecessary taxpayer costs and delays, saying it remains willing to demolish the vacant homes and transfer most of the properties to the city as part of a negotiated agreement.
