Residents hail city purchase of Stoney Creek turtle pond lot
Neighbouring residents say they're breathing easier now that the city owns a wooded lot by Stoney Creek's lakeshore turtle ponds that survived a contentious plan to build townhouses there.
It's a little oasis, something positive in a desert of development," Nancy West said of the 1.6-hectare Frances Avenue property, purchased from Hamilton's public school board in a deal closed on May 10.
We love it. It's a treasure," agreed Sue Langdon, who along with husband James joined neighbours for a celebratory photo at the site. We come here every day. We walk through here with our dogs all the time."
Located next to Edgelake Park, the environmentally significant property's future remained uncertain after the school board declared it surplus in 2019 and tried selling it without success until area Coun. Jeff Beattie convinced the city to act.
It was scary to think we were going to lose it," said West, who is a director of the Lakewood Beach Community Council.
She credited the late Sherry Revesz for drawing attention to the importance of the turtle pond while fighting a 2007 plan by a prospective buyer of the property for townhouses.
The ensuing public backlash prompted the developer to back off, but not before Revesz's Community Beach Turtle Pond Association had spent tens of thousands of dollars" hiring experts.
Despite the victory, West said residents remained worried another developer would buy the property, especially with the province's loosening of environmental regulations as part of a push to build more housing.
The city's purchase seals Revesz's victory and protection of a popular spot for migratory birds, amphibians, fish and turtles, she said.
She would be in seventh heaven," West said of Revesz, who died in 2018 of cancer. She really tried her best and succeeded, and then the fact that they could (try to develop it) again drove me insane."
Beattie said one of his first acts upon taking office in November was to see if the city might revisit a previous decision to not buy the property after learning the deadline for submitting a bid was set to close this spring.
Councillors agreed in late March to authorize staff to submit an offer and he said the city is very thankful" the $40,000 purchase price is being funded by the Patrick J. McNally Charitable Foundation, whose stated mandate is to help people explore and enjoy nature.
I'm kind of giddy with excitement that we were able to finally get this land protected," Beattie said, adding he'd wanted to find a suitable new owner for the property when he represented the area as public school trustee during the 2014-18 term.
He said the property will remain a natural respite from development in the area, including three condo towers to be built at 310 Frances Ave.
Having additional public spaces and forested areas, naturalized spaces, is always a good idea," Beattie said. It also aligns very nicely with the city's new direction with the climate change office and the recent biodiversity plans that were unveiled at council."
Todd White, who took over as the area's public school trustee in November, said he and Beattie began collaborating on the property in early December, calling it amazing" the deal concluded before a three-year window ended for public agencies to submit bids.
Had the deadline passed, the board would have had to restart the process, he said.
We've always recognized the importance of the property and we didn't want to just sell it off to a developer, and of course no developers were interested, but we wanted to get it into the right hands," White said.
The fact now that the city and Jeff have recognized that, it's exactly where it should have been a decade ago, probably longer."
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: We followed up after learning the city had bought the turtle ponds property.