PORT STANLEY: Transport Canada insists port won't become a burden to local taxpayers
By CHIP MARTIN, The London Free Press

ST. THOMAS -- Fifteen years of talks ended with 22 minutes of discussion Thursday night as Central Elgin council voted unanimously to assume Port Stanley harbour.
Councillors, before a crowd of seven citizens, praised the deal with Transport Canada insisting the port won't become a burden to local ratepayers.

The decision followed a public meeting 48 hours earlier where what was billed as the "final offer" from Transport Canada was made public. About 350 area residents saw the plan but were told the federal agency won't say how much money is attached to the deal, the first they had seen.

"I'm feeling pretty good right now," Mayor Tom Marks told his fellow councillors.

He said council through e-mails and other messages has received "overwhelming support" for the deal.
"Transport Canada was smart enough to know local people can run that (harbour) better," Marks said.
"We're not raising taxes to support this," the mayor vowed.

The current round of negotiations has been going on for a bit longer than five years, but Coun. Dave Marr recalled being on the former village council in Port Stanley and learning back in 1995 Ottawa wanted to get rid of the harbour. Talks were originally held with Elgin County.

Marr recalled back then Transport Canada said there would be no money for the local municipality, but now Central Elgin will receive "a large chunk of money."
"We will get it (cleaned to) parkland standards," he said. "That is unprecedented. They have always cleaned to (less stringent) industrial standards."
Other council members noted basic maintenance and dredging will be covered for 35 to 40 years under the deal.

"It doesn't cost the taxpayer of Central Elgin one dollar," said Coun. Gerald Reu. "We have 35 years to make this profitable."

Even though every one of the six councillors spoke in favour of the deal, a recorded vote was taken to document their unanimity.

Transport Canada refuses to disclose how much money it will commit to Central Elgin in the harbour transfer. It cites a confidentiality agreement with the municipality upon which Transport Canada insisted.

But while the federal agency promises to clean the east headland at the harbour mouth to provincial standards for parkland, it won't pay for harbour-area improvements the community sought as part of a business plan.

A $100,000 study adopted by Central Elgin council as a basis for divestiture talks, sought the lakefront attractions to help Port Stanley reconnect with Lake Erie.
That business plan called for creation of a new community centre to be called the Stork Club, a public boat launch and small marina for visiting boaters to enhance the village as a recreational destination. The plan called for $30 million from the federal government to ensure the harbour doesn't become a burden on local ratepayers in Central Elgin, a community of about 12,500.

Mark Conway, a consultant hired by Central Elgin, told the meeting of ratepayers the municipality didn't get everything it wanted in the deal.
But he said with ownership, the community can generate funds for redevelopment through user fees, rentals, local fundraising and government grants.

E-mail chip.martin@sunmedia.ca