A year after saying that a public meeting on surplus properties owned by South Dundas would take place, council will finally hold a committee of the whole meeting July 17 to discuss potential land sales, change of use, or disbursements. It is a discussion long-overdue in the community.
The idea of a public meeting came from a presentation by the City of Cornwall’s Human Services Department of locations to potentially locate new social housing developments in Iroquois. One parcel that was concerning at the time was directly across from Seaway District High School – some of which is used as a student parking lot – which was to be potentially earmarked for social housing. This led to the call for a public meeting. While the July 17 committee of whole meeting is open to the public, there is no public comment at this point in the process.
South Dundas administration and council are not wrong to look at the properties owned by the municipality as that is sound management practice. However, before contemplating what properties should be re-purposed, declared surplus and sold, or donated – council needs to agree to set and follow ground rules.
Municipally-owned land are community assets. They are ours and every resident’s of South Dundas. If our assets are sold, the proceeds of those sales should be earmarked for reinvestment into our remaining assets on a like-for-like basis. If a portion of Haldane Park in Iroquois is sold for housing construction, those proceeds should pay for improvements in the remaining portion of Haldane Park, or across all remaining parks in South Dundas. Similarly, if part of Duncan Park in Mariatown is sold, the proceeds should be used to maintain and enhance this critical waterfront access point. At no point should property be sold without there being a specific and identified use for the proceeds that contributes to the public benefit. Selling land to buy equipment or pay for staff should never even enter the realm of consideration at any time.
Once land is identified to be donated, sold, or redeveloped, and discussed in an open and transparent fashion, council must commit to holding one or more public meetings to allow comments from residents. It is as much their property being sold as it is council members’.
By developing a clear set of ground rules, and following those rules, South Dundas can have its cake, and eat it too. By leveraging an under-used or unused publicly-owned asset to improve other publicly-owned assets, South Dundas residents will benefit the most.
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