A member of city council believes the decision to expropriate dozens of boarded-up and vacant homes in Windsor’s west end is ‘the right thing to do for the neighbourhood.’ Ward 2 Coun. Frazier Fathers calls it a critical element for revitalizing the neighbourhood and the west end. The city announced Thursday it was beginning the process to expropriate dozens of boarded-up, derelict, or vacant properties in the Sandwich Town neighbourhood after the council voted unanimously in favour of the move during an in-camera meeting on July 27. Companies associated with the owners of the Ambassador Bridge own a number of the 45 properties in question, which have been at the centre of multiple legal battles with the city for several decades. From 2017 to present, the city has also been involved in a negotiation process over some of the properties, spending approximately $3-million in legal and professional fees in connection with negotiations. Fathers says we’ve waited long enough to move forward, but this isn’t the end of the process. “The neighbourhood needs to bear with us. Just as we were waiting for the Gordie Howe Bridge opening, 1,300 trucks came off Huron Church Road in the first four days, each day. We expect that number to climb over and over. This process will take a bit of time; we’ll work through the process. We’ll get there in due time,” he says. According to Fathers, some of the homes are just a block from the University of Windsor that could be perfect for student housing in the future. “You’ve got homes a little further down Bloomfield Road; well, those are neighbourhoods for families who could then support General Brock School and Marlborough School. The entire block of Edison is now clear. There’s an opportunity to reimagine that block in a way that, if it’s only single-family homes, it’s only single-family homes, but maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s mixed-use, maybe it’s something else,” he says. The majority of homes are along Indian Road, Edison Street, Bloomfield Road, and Felix Avenue, but there are also homes on Rosedale Avenue, Elm Avenue, St. Antoine Street, and College Avenue. The city says the decision to expropriate 45 properties was made for the municipal purpose of the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the municipality, including neighbourhood stabilization, housing renewal, public safety, and community revitalization, in accordance with the Olde Sandwich Towne Community Improvement Plan.
