| NIAGARA THIS WEEK November 17, 2011 By PAUL FORSYTH City staff recommended the city drop plans for leasing land from the St. Lawrence Seaway for a possible War of 1812 commemorative park. Instead, they said work should continue to create a small parkette near the entrance of the AbitibiBowater paper plant, where it’s believed the American troops surrendered in the pivotal Battle of Beaverdams. The city was considering leasing federal land from the Seaway on the north side of Old Thorold Stone Road, and acquiring land on the south side of Old Thorold Stone Road where the former Bishop Fuller House stood. But an environmental assessment of the federal land red-flagged several environmental concerns. In a report to city council on Nov. 15, planning and building services director Adele Arbour said the assessment raised the possibility of contamination with pesticides and herbicides, including now-banned DDT, since the land was farmed from at least 1934 to at least 1971. There was also the risk that petroleum may have been spilled from empty fuel containers on the site, and a concern over the possible blowing of concrete dust containing silica and calcium/magnesium carbonate from a neighbouring concrete recycling facility. |
The concerns were deemed important enough that a second environmental assessment, at a cost of about $5,600 plus taxes, would have been necessary, Arbour said. There is also a risk that the city could have responsibility for cleanup of the site, Arbour’s report said. The city’s 1812 bicentennial committee also wants the city to not proceed with plans for the federal lands, she said. Instead, research by committee member and historian Alun Hughes confirms the Battle of Beaverdams surrender took place near the AbitibiBowater entrance on Highway 8, Arbour said. The 1812 committee is hoping to have an area measuring 400 feet by 250 feet near the plant entrance developed into a small park with picnic tables, a sign, a parking area and a monument dedicated to the native warriors who fought for the British and won the battle. City staff have held meetings with AbitibiBowater to discuss the idea for the park, Arbour said. View the article by Niagara This Week |
1812 Park at paper mill pursued
