Environmental worries surface at airport lands open house

Residents attend an open house at Windsor International Airport regarding airport land expansion. Sept. 9, 2025. (Meagan Delaurier/AM800 News)

A small group of community members attended an open house regarding Phase 2 of the Airport Employment Lands Plan.

The open house was held Tuesday evening at the Windsor International Airport, and while only a small number of people attended, they had large concerns.

Those in attendance were in agreement over their concerns surrounding the environmental impacts of these sites on the Little River Corridor, as well as the woodlots that are currently within both phases.

The woodlot within Phase 1 of the plan which was approved by the city last year, remains untouched, and will connect to the three woodlots just south of Phase 2. According to the renderings from the city, the woodlots in Phase 2 will also be untouched.

This plan, under the Windsor Works Economic Development Strategy, is intended to create shovel-ready sites for manufacturing businesses to build on and Phase 2 would unlock an additional 93 hectares of land.

Windsor resident Giovanni Abati says the environmental factors are a major concern.

“The drainage, the pollutants, all this industrial, the temperature of the water, the runoff that’s going to lead into the Little River damaging the ecosystem further downstream whether it’s overflow, or just the warmth and temperature of the water that’s going to flow into the river.”

Ian Naisbitt, member of the Little River Enhancement Group, says the group wants all of the woodlots left alone.

“We’re very passionate about it, and we want to make sure that they at least save them. But not only that, we would like to have them connected... this is where all of the species at risk live and are in this region, they use certain areas, and these are three of the key areas that they use.”

Amy Farkas, Planner and Associate with Dillon Consulting, says they will not be touching the woodlots in this phase.

“Phase 2 we have a 30-metre buffer from the existing woodlots, and we’ve actually as part of Phase 2 have introduced a corridor from the woodlot to the west that was in Phase 1 so that there’s connectivity between them.”

The sites need to be rezoned from institutional to a manufacturing use.

All the comments received during the open house will be included in a report that will be presented to Windsor City Council in the next few months, along with all background studies such as stormwater management, environmental impact studies, among more.

Dillon Consulting is providing support to the city as an agent during the process.