The GM site: where do we go from here?
I am asking this in good faith: what is the best possible chain of events leading to the redevelopment of the GM site?
The current OLT court case will see the property owner forced to demolish the remaining buildings on site, on their own dime, as soon as safely possible (good). It could also give them until June 30, 2027 to do so, or worst case, not force them to do anything at all (very bad).
Even if this court case goes favourably, there is still the issue of the actual remediation of the site. Knocking down buildings does not a clean GM site make. The current owners, or rather mortgage holder Celernus, seem to have absolutely no interest in pursuing this. It won't be their hands that cleans up the site.
I've heard some theories. Among them: get the City to contract out the work of demolition, put a lien on the property and make the City an effective part-owner, force a tax sale at a temptingly low price, and a developer will scoop it up with plans to remediate in build in no time, at no expense to taxpayers.
But like, do I even have this right? And is there a reality in which all this falls seamlessly into place like a Rube Goldberg machine? I just feel like there's so much speculation and very little clarity involved.
As far as solutions go, Siscoe has given his pitch, and it sucks: reimburse developers the full cost of remediation with the property taxes from future development. It effectively puts the cost on the people of St. Catharines. Not good.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Coalition for a Better St. Catharines has been very vocal about what they want - the demolition and remediation of the site with zero cost to taxpayers. That's great and I agree. But apart from the above mentioned loose theory about forcing a tax sale and an angel developer waiting in the wings to move on the property, which I’ve heard Ed Smith allude to in some City Council delegations, I am not clear on what the finer details of their long-term vision are.
Everybody (with notable exceptions) seems to agree that residents should not be paying in any capacity for this cleanup, but that it needs to happen ASAP. So, how exactly do we get there from where we stand, in detail?