When the Town of Huntsville acquired the lands at 37 Centre Street North and 25 North Dufferin Drive last year, it also acquired the property’s long history as an industrial site.
It’s currently occupied by Infrapipe, which leases the land, and was the former home of Huntsville’s tannery which operated long before any sort of environmental standards were in place.
“It’s a piece of property that’s all basically waterfront and now gives the Town control of the waterfront from way past Avery Beach right to Centre Street and also gives us control over anything that’s potentially buried there,” Mayor Karin Terziano said at the Nov. 23, 2020 meeting where council approved the purchase. “We don’t have any concerns right now. We’ve checked the environmental studies that have been done in the past and we did a subsequent one this year and we don’t have any concerns.”
But that doesn’t mean that future site remediation won’t be required.
The Town acquired the property for $1,000. Infrapipe pays a yearly lease of $444,096 for use of the property, according to a resolution presented at Huntsville’s Dec. 15, 2021 general committee meeting. Mayor Karin Terziano brought that resolution—which requires that all of those funds be directed to the Centre Street Environmental Reserve until it reaches a minimum of $4 million—forward to ensure that the intent of the reserve is honoured.
Mayor Terziano said she asked for the resolution to be drafted because of suggestion at committee’s previous meeting that the reserve funds be used for other purposes.
“Council will remember when we made the decision to acquire that property we talked extensively about what could happen some day on clean up and redevelopment of it,” she reminded fellow committee members, adding that the resolution was intended to strengthen that commitment.
It’s prime property along the Muskoka River and Hunters Bay, and while the Town has committed to keeping Infrapipe—and the local jobs it brings—in place for the foreseeable future, should the company ever pull up stakes one possible use for the land is an urban park
The recently completed Waterfront Strategy Design Brief also suggested that, through consolidation of some storage at the site, a portion of the property along the waterfront could be turned into a park while Infrapipe’s business operations continue.
In that brief, consultant Donna Hinde suggested that a detailed park design be created for that location “to think about how it could accommodate a full range of recreational uses into the future.”
The original and sole purpose of the Centre Street Environmental Reserve fund was to address any potential remediation costs on the property. The new resolution adds future redevelopment opportunities to that purpose.
Committee passed the resolution, to be ratified at the next regular council meeting.
Related stories:
Council moves forward with purchase of former KWH property, currently owned by Uponor
A roadmap for the future of Huntsville’s urban waterfront
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A park on the factory location would be a wonderful addition to Huntsville’s downtown core. The tannery history on this parcel of waterfront land is indeed an environmental concern and noise issues affect all nearby neighbours. Moving in this direction reflects forward thinking on the council’s part and will benefit generations to come particularly as the town continues to grow and green spaces are developed. Yesterday is dead and gone – tomorrow’s vision definitely in sight.
I really like the idea of a park in that location