Railroads were an important contributor to the rapid growth of the former town of Walkerville in its formative years. The discovery of the railroad turntable has direct associations with, and contributes to the understanding of the railroad history in Walkerville. The Stage 1 Archaeological Assessment conducted by the proponent's licensed archaeologist concludes that "The railroad turntable within the Walker Power Building is of local historical significance and retains cultural heritage value or interest. As such, this feature should not be modified or removed." City staff concurs that the turntable represents a significant remnant of the area's history and should be protected.

Official Plan Policy:

Section 9 of the City of Windsor Official Plan (Volume 1) states that:

"A community's identity and civic pride is rooted in physical and cultural links to its past. In order to celebrate Windsor's rich history, Council is committed to recognizing, conserving and enhancing heritage resources."

The Official Plan also states under 9.1.1 that it is the goal to recognize, conserve and enhance: 9.1.1

"The identification, recognition, protection, conservation, enhancement and proper management of heritage resources."

Objectives include (9.2.4) "To increase awareness and appreciation of Windsor's heritage resources and encourage participation by individuals, organizations and other levels of government in heritage conservation."

Also, (9.3.2.1) "Council will identify Windsor's heritage resources by: ... (c) Researching and documenting the history and architectural and contextual merit of potential heritage resources on an individual property basis". (9.3.3.1) "Council will recognize Windsor's heritage resources by: ... (a) Designating individual buildings, structures, sites and landscapes as heritage properties under the Ontario Heritage Act;" (9.3.6.1) "Council will manage heritage resources by: … (e) providing support and encouragement to organizations and individuals who undertake the conservation of heritage resources by private means"

Protection of archeological sites is also addressed by "Requiring that development or infrastructure undertakings on lands containing potential archaeological resources avoid the destruction or alteration of these resources; or where this is not possible, requiring the proponent to conserve significant archaeological resources through documentation and removal or mitigation in advance of land disturbances" (9.3.4.1).

Archeological policies of the Official Plan are implemented in part by "requiring the preparation of an archaeological assessment when development proposals or infrastructure undertakings affect known archaeological resources or areas of archaeological potential" (9.3.7.1).

All of these Official Plan policies would be fulfilled through the recommendations of this report, along with any other archaeological requirements of MTCS.