June 15, 2020

Item 11.7

Additional information

From: Philippa von Ziegenweidt

Sent: Friday, June 12, 2020 9:03 AM

To: clerks <clerks@citywindsor.ca>

Subject: Item 11.7: Celestial Beacon

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Councillors,

I wish to register my opposition to Item 11.7 (the Celestial Beacon proposal), for the following reasons:

1. Fiscal responsibility: Now is not the right time to be investing so much public money into a 'want'. Because of the change in financial circumstances due to Covid, our local economy cannot afford this $7M project, even with $3,032,066 of Canada Cultural Spaces Grant funding. The optics of this expenditure are extremely poor.

2. Light pollution: The light from the structure in the rendering is incompatible with the idea of studying the nighttime sky - is that not the point of the beacon being "celestial"?

3. Concept: It's difficult to see the conceptual linkage between a "celestial beacon" and a historic streetcar, or a convention centre adjacent to the residential neighbourhood on the other side of Riverside Drive.

4. Tourism potential: I don't believe this is a good location for the streetcar. Putting it downtown (at the former Greyhound station or near the Spirit of Windsor?) would provide better connections to local and out of town tourism.

5. Accessibility: The transportation master plan does not have a bus stop within a block (or two) of the earmarked location -- rather ironic for a monument to public transportation.

6. Consultation: Area residents have not been officially consulted and many are strongly against the plan for a variety of reasons. Residents throughout the city will be affected. There is great concern about the prospect of requiring relief from Section 20 (1) 3 of Zoning By-law 8600, which prohibits new buildings or parts thereof to extend beyond the crown of Riverside Dr. I would like to draw your attention to Sections 10.6.5 through 10.6.8 of Windsor's Official Plan, relating to consultation and consensus building for developments.

7. Compatibility: There's already a significant amount of activity going on in the same spot -- the many people who fish there. Have they been consulted? How will this affect them? (I would much rather have seen a proposal to expand fishing opportunities along the riverfront -- much more appropriate in the current economic climate)

8. Resilience: I'm concerned about flood risk if the river rises even further and the costs of dealing with future flooding.