live: windsor council lifts heritage protection from roseland parking lot, clubhouse
follow windsor star reporter taylor campbell’s live blo...
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windsor city hall is seen on april 11, 2024.
taylor campbell
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windsor star
follow windsor star reporter taylor campbell’s live blog below for live coverage of windsor city council’s meeting on monday, feb. 10, 2025.
the regular agenda for today’s meeting is available here, the consolidated agenda is here, and the final consolidated agenda is here.
10:08 a.m. — on correspondence item 7.1.2. – the social and economic prosperity review from the association of municipalities of ontario (amo).
ward 9 coun. kieran mckenzie asks that the city send correspondence to the province asking it to consider the economic prosperity review as published by amo and to work with municipalities to achieve some of the recommendations. council agrees.
10:15 a.m. — on 7.4 – auditor general of ontario’s annual report regarding the implementation and oversight
of ontario’s opioid strategy.
of ontario’s opioid strategy.
kieran mckenzie asks for reaction from andrew daher, commissioner of human and health services. daher says the local health unit has created a substance use prevention and harm reduction programme “that’s going to really focus on a lot of the items that have been brought forward” as part of the auditor general’s report.
“one of the challenges that we’re seeing is the toxicity of the drugs that are coming into our communities — there’s a new drug that has just been identified called fluorofentanyl, which is two times more potent than fentanyl,” daher says.
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kieran mckenzie moves that council support the recommendations of the ago report. council agrees.
10:17 a.m. — on item 7.1.4 – court of appeal for ontario – decision letter for windsor housing providers inc
v. windsor (city).
v. windsor (city).
ward 2 coun. fabio costante thanks the city’s legal team for its work winning the appeal put forward by a group of local landlords against the city’s residential rental licensing pilot program. read some of the star’s coverage here, here, and here.
costante asks if the city will seek costs. city solicitor wira vendrasco says the court granted the city costs ($13,000) in its decision.
10:23 a.m. — ward 8 coun. gary kaschak asks about 7.3 – one-time provincial funding to address homelessness encampments.
as of last month, daher says, the city has around four encampments with 12 individuals, “a remarkable decrease” from the end of november, when the city had 23 encampments with 46 individuals. he credited the addition of more than 70 warming spaces inside local shelters for helping to get people out of the cold.
10:25 a.m. — being added to the consent agenda are items 11.4 – declaration of improved property municipally known as 3136-3146 walker road surplus and authority to offer same for sale; 11.2 – declaration of a vacant parcel of land municipally known as 0 woodlawn avenue surplus and authority to offer same for sale; 11.1 – declaration of a vacant parcel of land municipally known as 0 francois road surplus
and authority to offer for sale; and 11.6 – active transportation fund – capital project stream.
and authority to offer for sale; and 11.6 – active transportation fund – capital project stream.
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10:28 a.m. — kieran mckenzie asks that item 11.5 – rfp update – jackson park feasibility study be deferred. council agrees.
10:32 a.m. — item 8.11 – amendment to heritage designation by-law no. 281-2003 – 455 kennedy drive west, roseland golf course
for background, here is the star’s coverage of the development and heritage committee’s decision to back heritage protection for the entire roseland property, going against administration’s recommendation.
last year, windsor mayor drew dilkens announced council’s decision to offer up part of the roseland property (the parking lot and the existing clubhouse’s footprint) for private residential development. it’s one of several city-owned housing solutions made for windsor properties. read about that announcement here.
ever since, some residents in the roseland neighbourhood have been vocally opposed. read about the backlash here and here.
today, area resident catherine archer says to council: “you are the guardians of the remaining historically important heritage sites. much has already been lost.”
area resident silvio barresi created a petition that calls on council to uphold the development and heritage committee’s recommendation.
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“everyone stands behind leaving heritage designated land across the city as community space,” he says. “roseland is history. roseland is good history that needs to be acknowledged, preserved, and protected.”
11:40 a.m. — area resident albert schepers notes that council doesn’t need to change the property’s heritage designation in order to develop on the land. a consultant hired to review roseland’s heritage features states so. the city can apply for a heritage permit to demolish the existing clubhouse and build new while maintaining heritage protections.
“you need to deal with the important issues — why are we here on this issue?”
10:48 a.m — area resident chris kruba says there “is no basis for severing any portion of the parcel from historical designation.” he asks council to deny administration’s recommendation and ro maintain heritage protection for the entire property, which council approved in the early 2000s.
11:06 a.m. — councillors have been asking questions of the delegates. most of the questions have been for clarification.
11:12 a.m — ward 1 coun. fred francis asks archer to expand on the importance of the neighbourhood’s history. she mentioned wartime homes during her presentation.
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“roseland is not just a golf course. it’s a place. it’s been a community hub for years,” she says.
“there’s a human element you guys are missing. this is an older neighbourhood. a lot of these individuals are still in the same lots that their parents had.”
11:20 a.m. — francis asks the city’s auditor general, christopher o’connor, to speak to an investigation he did into allegations of wrongdoing via the city’s hotline. there was an allegation of errors, an allegation that the city had information that it would not disclose, and an allegation relating to information not being made available to taxpayers that it should have, o’connor said.
his report concluded there was “support for partial elements” of the allegation of errors, but not for either of the other two allegations. the error was about a boundary line in one of the maps included in a report to the development and heritage committee.
11:30 a.m. — kieran mckenzie asks if the designation of assets that are not heritage and are determined not to be heritage strengthens the designation for the remaining assets. in the case of roseland, the parking lot and clubhouse are not heritage features, but the golf course is.
consultant alicia lesniak of a+link architecture inc. says it “does not weaken the case for the designation of the remaining golf course.”
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“there are many heritage records of the golf course that back up the strength of its history and cultural heritage and as a cultural heritage resource,” she says.
settimo vilardi of archon architects incorporated says characteristics that have no heritage value “should never have been included as part of that report” for heritage designation in 2003. “by eliminating them now, it doesn’t create any sort of result.”
11:41 a.m. — francis notes that the consultant’s report says roseland’s par 3 course has no heritage characteristics, and yet city staff are not asking council to lift heritage designation from the par 3.
“do we follow their direction entirely, or can we actually pick and choose? right now, we’re picking and choosing,” says francis.
to be clear, francis does not want to lift heritage protection from the par 3 course.
dilkens interjects. he says that “from the very beginning,” council has only discussed building housing on the parking lot and clubhouse.
francis asks if the par 3 course is more vulnerable to development now that a heritage report has identified it as not of heritage value.
jelena payne, commissioner of economic development, says the par 3 has never been included in discussions about heritage protection. it was not included in 2003, when the entire property received heritage designation.
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11:49 a.m. — dilkens says heritage designation applies to entire properties. heritage bylaws are worded to identify what has heritage features.
city planner neil robertson says there are two pieces to a heritage bylaw: the legal description of the property, and the reasons for designation.
“the reasons for designation are defined, and there’s criteria put forward by the province to do an evaluation,” robertson says.
noon — dilkens: “this is a process completely controlled by city council. at the end of the day, you will decide whether to proceed or whether or not to proceed. i’ll be the first one to eject from any housing project here on roseland golf course if it doesn’t meet the characteristics of the neighbourhood.”
12:15 p.m. — kieran mckenzie asks city staff whether de-designating would weaken protections for the golf course proper. robertson says, effectively, no.
ward 8 coun. gary kaschak asks if future councils could alter what this council decides around heritage designation.
vendrasco says that’s correct.
coun. costante asks about the heritage alteration permit process that would take place if council refuses to lift heritage designation from the parking lot/clubhouse.
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robertson says separate heritage permits would be required to demolish the existing clubhouse and to build a new clubhouse. another permit would be needed to build housing following the expression of interest process that requests proposals from developers.
12:23 p.m. — kieran mckenzie asks about the current state of the clubhouse.
colleen middaugh, manager of corporate projects, says the roof and boiler are “two major concerns” with the existing facility.
“to really comment on the extend of what would be needed to maintain that building, you would have to do a building condition assessment,” she says.
the city has retained a “demolition consultant” and is working to identify “temporary measures” for offices for roseland’s general manager and other staff at the facility.
the clubhouse could come down in november of this year if council wants to wait until the end of the golfing season. demolition will be subject to council approval.
12:27 p.m. — ward 6 coun. jo-anne gignac moves the administrative recommendation to lift heritage designation from the roseland parking lot and clubhouse building.
“in the end, i think the integrity of the golf course itself, donald ross’s design, is not going to change. it’s going to stay intact,” she says.
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kieran mckenzie says he will support the motion because he cares “deeply” about the golf course and has had “many great moments” at the course.
“what will protect the long-term viability of roseland is the work that this board has been doing. it’s the financial viability of the course.
“critical for that to happen is the clubhouse needs to be demolished and replaced… we’ve proved it… we had to close the clubhouse because of the pandemic, and guess what happened? the first year that we closed the clubhouse, the course made more money that we ever did.”
he called the clubhouse a “financial burden,” and said the building is “falling apart.”
“there’s urgency with respect to the timeline here. we have to move forward.” having to go through multiple heritage applications to deal with a building that isn’t a heritage feature of the property “has the potential to bring additional financial risk” to the course.
12:37 p.m. — francis: “in 100 years next year, that footprint has not changed until we’re changing it with this vote right here — there’s a reason for that, and that’s why i can’t support what’s in front of us today because it does provide a bad precedent.”
he says it’s concerning that the consultant’s report says the par 3 has no heritage value.
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he notes that several former councillors who sat around the table in 2003 have provided written submissions about their desire to protect the entire roseland property when they approved its heritage designation in 23 years ago. they include bill marra, brian masse, and fulvio valentinis.
12:42 p.m. — kaschak will support the motion. he says he’s golfed at roseland “probably 1,000 times.”
“i want people to get a good experience there, and with the clubhouse as it is right now, they’re not.”
costante says he’s “very much pro-housing.” he also understand the desire to preserve history because he resides over historic sandwich town and its conservation district.
“i recognize the delicate balance of maintaining heritage and history with addressing needs in your community and developing our city for the future,” costante said. “i’ve learned in that process, and i’m still learning all the time, that you have to move at the speed of trust.”
costante says council may need to “be a bit more surgical” with this property when it comes to housing.
“what i’m against is taking down what i think is a necessary piece to ensure that the fabric of history, heritage of the neighbourhood is maintained.”
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12:48 p.m. — dilkens says “none of this is precedent-setting,” and that council is “dealing with a very discreet matter related to property for a discreet purpose.”
“we’re trying to do something that’s at the appropriate scale for roseland,” he says.
“i’m going to support this because i think it’s the logical next step.”
12:55 p.m. — council votes in favour of removing heritage designation from roseland golf and curling club’s parking lot and clubhouse.
voting in favour were mayor dilkens and councillors renaldo agostino (ward 3), mark mckenzie (ward 4), ed sleiman (ward 5), jo-anne gignac (ward 6), gary kaaschak (ward 8), kieran mckenzie (ward 9) and jim morrison (ward 10).
voting against were councillors fred francis (ward 1), fabio costante (ward 2), and angelo marignani (ward 7).
1:15 p.m. — council is discussing 7.2 – strategies for addressing transportation and transit challenges in twin oaks industrial park. the report is a response to two different council questions.
there was another accident in the area of lauzon road and twin oaks drive this morning.
kieran mckenzie moves the staff recommendation and asks admin to undertake an analysis of whether or not pedestrian infrastructure can be implemented in the industrial park, and that the city engage with landowners in the industrial park about temporary access to parking lots or private service roads that could accommodate public transit.
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“we have to respond to something that’s happening literally in real time as we sit here today,” he says. “the bus needs to be in there and i think it needs to have access to as much of the industrial park area as it possibly can have, because there are no sidewalks for people to get to where we’re planning on bringing them to.”
kaschak: “it’s a busy, busy place. there’s lots of action in there,” he says.
“there’s a lot of issues and a lot of traffic — the quicker we can get on that would be good.”
that motion carries.
1:32 p.m. — on to notices of motion. coun. kieran mckenzie put forward a motion asking council to call upon the provincial government to address housing, homelessness, mental health and addiction by implementing recommendations proposed by the association of municipalities of ontario. the motion was seconded by coun. costante.
residents marion overholt and bilal nasser are speaking in favour of the motion.
“an approach of criminalization, rather than compassion, is not making us safer,” says nasser, who lives downtown.
“i urge you to take this issue seriously. this is a crisis. this is not something we can keep putting off. something needs to change, and i cannot tolerate any more dead neighbours in my neighbourhood.”
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1:51 p.m. — area resident meg gregoire says harm reduction strategies are “vital to keeping people safe and keeping them alive.
“ending chronic homelessness is not only a moral imperative, but also a matter of public health, community safety, equity, and economic sustainability.”
2:09 p.m. — kieran mckenzie is asking questions of the delegates, who are expounding on their presentations in support of his motion.
2:13 p.m. — in response to a question from kaschak, commissioner daher says the city’s shelter system is almost at capacity every night.
“the solution to homelessness, as one of the delegates said, is not just housing, but it’s housing with support,” daher said. “we need funding from support levels of government, and that’s what these amo reports continue to talk about.”
2:29 p.m. — kieran mckenzie speaks to his motion.
“these issues are so complex. they touch on healthcare, housing, mental health, addiction, homelessness — it’s such a complex suite of issues.”
he says this motion gives the city a “framework,” a “place to start from” when looking to develop and implement policies to support people.
2:34 p.m. — gignac wants a friendly amendment. she wants to add to the motion a request that the province create a ministry of homelessness, “so that there will be oversight, so that there will be data that is mandatory from an agency that they fund, and that they will have outcome expectations in terms of what the money they are sending to all of us is going to accomplish.”
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mckenzie says that’s friendly.
2:36 p.m. — mark mckenzie says he can’t support the motion because he doesn’t support amo’s opioid crisis report.
kieran mckenzie’s motion carries.
voting against were mark mckenzie (ward 4), ed sleiman (ward 5), and mayor dilkens.
2:40 p.m. — meeting over.
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