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$78M seals deal - GreenLink history as Ontario sweetens the pot - Invest Windsor Ontario Real Estate
April 12, 2010
The City of Windsor's years-long dispute with the province of Ontario over construction of a new highway to the border will end today with a $78-million compromise, sources say.
The mayor and Windsor's two provincial cabinet ministers will announce the new funding at a morning news conference, along with details of additional border-related infrastructure.
The extra work includes a complete rebuild of Walker Road, construction of a new plaza for the Windsor-Detroit tunnel and the addition of wider buffer zones and three-metre tall berms between the parkway and nearby homes, sources close to the negotiations said Thursday.
A key component of the deal is $5 million from the province to start an environmental assessment and preliminary design of a southern extension of Lauzon Parkway, connecting it to Highway 401.
The compromise was reached after nearly a year of intense talks between Windsor and Queen's Park, much of it between Mayor Eddie Francis, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan (L -- Windsor-Tecumseh) and Industry Minister Sandra Pupatello (L -- Windsor-West).
The deal is intended to conclude all talks regarding the controversial, $1.8-billion Windsor-Essex Parkway, including the city's insistence that the province build "Greenlink," its concept for a highway with 1,000 more metres of roadway buried under concrete and landscaping.
Under the terms of the deal confirmed in both Windsor and Queen's Park, no additional covering or so-called "tunnelling" will be added to the below-grade parkway, which had been a key demand made by Francis.
The mayor was backed in his fight by a unanimous city council and thousands of city residents opposed to the mostly open-air parkway.
The extra buffer zone will include 16.2 hectares (40 acres) of private and city-owned lands west of Huron Church Road, which will be added to the Spring Garden Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI).
The new properties added to the project will not be expropriated, but homeowners who agree to sell will receive compensation comparable to those families which have already been bought out, one source indicated.
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