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LETTER: 'To promote greener projects,' town needs to revisit Midland Bay Landing's 10-year-old plan

'A green walkway with trees and an attached multi-use trail is now a windswept expanse of concrete with half a dozen trees and a few benches,' writer says of 'promenade'
Letter to the Editor
2021-10-23 - MLBDC (1)
Writer says the 'promenade' where Mayor Stewart Strathearn and MBLDC board chair Bill Kernohan stand is nothing like what was originally envisioned.

MidlandToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). This letter is in response to a letter by Andrew Craig Walker voicing his concerns about the plan for Midland Bay Landing and its hiring of real estate partner to help selecte a developer.

Dear Editor,

Thanks to Mr. Walker for voicing his concerns about the continued drive by the current board of Midland Bay Landing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars ($129,500 plus HST this week) to bring into being a plan that is now 10 years old.

His vision of a park for all of us, not another place lost to private ownership, is welcome.

Mr. Kernahan, Chair of the MLB Board, made another presentation recently (reported in Midland Today on Jan. 30) that repeated all the previous claims for the existing plan – 25% devoted to public space, access to the water, attractive housing and an increased tax base.

He continues to emphasize that the plan his board is working towards was approved by residents back when and adds “at no time during the process was the property envisioned as 100% parkland.”  While this is true, it does not preclude those residents from reconsidering. Public awareness and understanding have changed in 10 years and many now feel that taking action to promote greener projects should be a priority.

Considering that the MLB Board itself is prepared to make changes – its much promoted ‘promenade’ that has been inflicted on 100 yards of waterfront has no resemblance to the drawings Mr. Kernahan refers to. A green walkway with trees and an attached multi-use trail is now a windswept expanse of concrete with half a dozen trees and a few benches that fronts a couple of excavated acres that look like a potential parking lot.

A much discussed plan to apply for a Geopark status ($50,000) last year suggested that success would bring visitors and promote business seems to work in conflict with a plan for turning the same space into a condo cluster but Mr. Walker’s argument says a homegrown park could do the same thing and be responsive to residents’ preferences.

And without having to carry the MLB board and their consultants and paid board members on the town’s books into the future we might even be able to save some money.

Bill Molesworth

Midland