To the Editor:
This letter is to express my OPPOSiTION to the proposed development on our waterfront.
With what information I have been able to gather, this “village” contravenes everything our beach has ever represented.
I agree, certainly, that our waterfront is in need of a good cleanup, but this proposal transcends revitalization. It smacks of commercialization! This is a PUBLIC beach!
A development on the footprint of the train station property would be adequate to supply the needs of beachgoers, boaters, and full-time/seasonal waterside residents.
The original footprint would supply all that is needed, including a restaurant. The restaurant doesn’t have to sit adjacent to the harbour; the view would be obstructed by the dunes anyway!
We don’t need retail on our beach; no one goes to the beach to shop! Also, it wouldn’t be fair to the other retailers to fragment the shopping area. Retail belongs with the other retailers, who already are struggling uptown.
The absence of lease and tax in the proposal is outrageous! The same deal should be offered to the existing business people uptown, who have been supporting our town for years! “What’s sauce for the goose, should be sauce for the ganders”!
The proposed 50 year lease is unconscionable. All it is doing is providing an attractive financial relationship to the next owners when the current investors want to get out and sell!
Our beach is about bare feet, for residential and seasonal visitors with their families.
Peter Little,
Port Elgin
