South Dundas Council and staff continue their discussions on what to do about the village plazas in Morrisburg and Iroquois. Who should pay for the services and maintenance of the shopping plazas after planned renovations are complete? Those discussions continue without significant input from property owners of these plazas so far.
A staff report to Council on July 16 offers a sample of the costs of the two plazas from 2022-24, highlighting ongoing operation and maintenance costs to property owners. This newspaper is one of those businesses. The municipality would be responsible for roads, storefront parking, and sidewalks; commercial property owners would be responsible for the canopy, parking lots, green spaces, loading areas, staff parking, and the pylon signs. In the end, South Dundas would pay roughly one-third of the plaza costs, sticking commercial property owners with the remaining two-thirds.
According to the report, Iroquois plaza owners would pay a levy of $1.48 per square foot per year, while Morrisburg owners would pay $1.05 per square foot. This will be a levy on top of existing commercial property taxes. Based on South Dundas’ estimates, the average Iroquois plaza property owner would pay $3,848 yearly ($320/month). Morrisburg plaza property owners would pay $2,835 yearly ($236/month.) Few, if any, businesses in the plazas can afford this.
The plazas were constructed in the 1950s when commercial businesses were forced to relocate from the former downtowns. The plazas were to be, and still are, the new “main streets.” Had the St. Lawrence Seaway project not happened, the downtown areas of both villages would have likely followed the same trajectory of many other villages and towns in Eastern Ontario, like Prescott or Gananoque. In those municipalities, property owners do not pay extra levies for municipal parking lots, sidewalks, on-street parking, green space, common space, or courtyards. If those do not, why should it be different here? It should not be different. What’s next? Should those charges be extended to the villages of Brinston and Williamsburg for their sidewalks, street parking, and parks? Where is the line drawn?
In 1989 (Morrisburg) and 2008 (Iroquois), Council agreed to take on the responsibility for plaza infrastructure like sidewalks in order to get new canopies built. The current Council and administration are trying to go back on the commitments made by their predecessors, nickel-and-diming plaza property owners. Any additional fees to plaza property owners should be limited to garbage collection – which all other businesses already pay, and the plaza pilon sign. Property owned by the municipality should be paid for by the municipality, no different than any other municipal infrastructure.
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