The owners of the site of the former General Motors auto parts plants in St. Catharines, Ont., have been ordered to either repair, replace or demolish structures at the location to “ensure public safety,” according to a directive from the city.
St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe said the orders were made for the two addresses on Ontario Street after the city received a number of complaints related to one of the properties.
“For over a decade a great deal of time, energy and money has been invested in this site by everyone involved,” Siscoe wrote in an emailed statement.
“While the orders issued today will not resolve the issues that have prevented redevelopment to date, I hope they will serve as the starting point for a constructive path forward.”
The owners are directed by the city to repair, replace or board all openings of the building to prevent unauthorized entry and remove or repair damaged and unstable ceiling materials.
Alternatively, the city says the owner can seek to demolish the buildings.
General Motors ended production at the plants in 2010 and sold the site in 2014 to BayShore Groups for $12.5 million.
Four years later, the company announced a $250 million redevelopment plan for the site, which would see it auction off equipment from the property and then clear it for demolition by 2015. The company said it planned to build a retirement community, including a residence, biking or hiking trails along Twelve Mile Creek and a trade school.
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In the years since, construction has not progressed and the city said in early 2020 that it had heard “serious concerns” from residents about property standards and potential environmental hazards.
The city even took legal action against the property owner, listed in documents as 2390541 Ontario Inc., over Building Code Act and City Waste bylaw charges. The building code charges related to a February 2021 demolition of a smokestack without a permit. The bylaw charges focused on the owners’ failure to test, remove and dispose of refuse and debris from the property.
The numbered corporation pleaded guilty in provincial court in January 2022 to a total of 12 charges under the Building Code Act and waste bylaw. It was fined $60,000.
If the owners of the property don’t comply with these recent orders by the city, they could face steep penalties.
“There are multiple methods of escalating, which can be administrative monetary penalties, prosecution under the Provincial Offences Act, and the city would do the work to comply the order at the expense of the property owner,” said Paul Chudoba, the city’s bylaw enforcement manager.
The numbered corporation was addressed in the city’s order because it was who “we recognize as the property owner,” Chudoba added.
Other action has also been taken at the provincial level, with St. Catharines NDP MPP Jennie Stevens tabling a motion for the province on Wednesday to ensure the site is cleaned up, under two sections of the Environmental Protection Act.
“This section will give the minister powers to hold current and former property owners for the cost of remediation and cleanup of that site,” Stevens told Global News in an interview.
“There are so many contaminated things that have been found on that site,” Stevens said, including the hazardous industrial chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
“We have asbestos, we have cancer-causing carcinogenic problems on that site.”
Cleanup, Stevens said, should fall under the responsibility of either the province or the “massive corporation that once existed,” referring to GM. She added she believes BayShore has abandoned the community project and property.
The MPP said she will be working with Environment, Conservation and Parks Minister Todd McCarthy on the issue.
Untreated storm water was previously being collected on the site, McCarthy confirmed during question period in the Ontario legislature on Wednesday, and said his ministry’s enforcement and investigation branch may launch a potential investigation.
“We will take appropriate action if we see non-compliance that is identified,” McCarthy said.
Global News reached out to BayShore Groups for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
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