Greater Sudbury mayoral candidate Patricia Mills said she has a plan of action for prominent derelict sites such as the former St. Joseph's hospital site, which she calls an “eyesore.”
The state of disrepair, situated in one of Greater Sudbury's most prominent locations, is distressing to a lot of people, she said.
“As a homeowner, if I let my house run to this state of disrepair, the city would compel me to remediate,” she said. “Why hasn’t the city taken action on the St. Joseph’s site?
“Nobody wants derelict buildings in their city - not citizens, not city officials and not developers. When everyone wants the same thing, it should be easy to arrive at a solution.”
As a first step, Mills proposes strengthening the current property standards in line with other municipalities.
“It’s important for the city to establish a clear set of rules for developers,” she said.
“And those rules need to be applied consistently and equally across the board. That’s how standards are established.
"We can enhance our property standards bylaw to require walls or covered fencing, tree planting and graffiti removal. All of these and more options exist.”
Mills says she would also have the city work with developers to help them follow the standards.
"We would want to consult with developers and our business community to find the most desirable mix of stronger rules, but ultimately, we need higher expectations for our property standards,” she said.
Ensuring that the standards live up to our sense of civic pride is a step which could have been made at any point by the mayor and council, but was not, said Mills.
"We need to respect not only the local residents around these sites, but the potential investment in our community, which is lost when we look at a site that appears to have been abandoned by developers," she said.
Mills acknowledges that enhancing the property standards won't solve the underlying problem currently facing the site. For the beautification of the city, and for economic development, the St. Joseph's site needs to move forward.
She says that if the project remains stalled, the City of Greater Sudbury should begin the process of finding another use for the location by sitting down with the developer and city planners to review other options.
"How much longer can we allow this site to sit vacant?" Mills said. "We've seen a full council term come and go with no action."
