Windsor’s Greek community is apologizing and the Ministry of Natural Resources has been called in to investigate after a city woodlot slated for heritage protection was bulldozed flat.
Mayor Eddie Francis said the destruction “throws into question” approval the city granted to permit a Greek community centre and church being built on what had been industrially zoned lands.
He said that development was approved by city council subject to the owners also agreeing to rezone for natural protection an approximately two-acre wooded section of the the 12-acre property northeast of Walker Road and E.C. Row Expressway.
“This was no accident; what happened was deliberate and contrary to a condition of rezoning,” said Mayor Eddie Francis, adding the city learned of the destruction Monday.
That was also the first time newly elected Greek Orthodox Community president Pat Papadeas said she and her new board heard details of the woodlot clearing on land they own.
“I spoke with the mayor this morning and expressed, on my behalf and on behalf of the Greek community, how sorry we are,” Papadeas told The Star Tuesday. ”This is disturbing to me for many reasons.”
But not everyone in the local Greek community is apologizing for the clearing of the forested land which abutted another woodlot ERCA had identified as a candidate natural heritage site.
“It was a mess there, we had to clean it up … it was done to look nice for the city, nice for the community,” said Tom Athanasopoulos, who was president of a Greek Community interim board from last March until December.
Papadeas said the work was undertaken in December, during a short period after she was elected president but before the new board had taken over.
“I’m deeply disappointed … this should not have happened,” she said. Asked why it happened, Papadeas replied: “Why? That I cannot tell you.”
The woodlot destruction came at a time when some within Windsor’s Greek community had hoped a period of turmoil was coming to an end. Almost all the members of the previously elected Greek Community board resigned last March after they failed to convince a majority to abandon the Walker Road property for the mayor’s invitation to establish a Greektown-style community hub at the former Grace hospital site.
“We thought it was a very good idea to go downtown … (but) they told us they had lost faith in us … we quit,” said Michael Margaritis, who was president at the time.
Both he and Papadeas said the community’s religious leadership approved an interim board but gave it instructions not to make new spending decisions. Papadeas said the new board learned at its first formal meeting Monday night that the interim board had approved spending about $25,000 on the clear-cutting.
Papadeas said Monday was also the first time she heard of the arrangement in which city council approved the overall rezoning subject to the two-acre wooded portion being designated as a “green district.”
The city is now investigating.
Don Wilson, municipal manager of development applications, said that after council approved the rezoning early last year, the actual bylaw making it official first required a survey to be carried out and paid for by the property’s owner. Wilson said the interim board of the Greek Community subsequently asked to have that survey delayed until the new board was in place in the new year, a request that city council dealt with in July.
City officials were planning on approaching the new Greek Community board this week to work on finalizing the bylaw when city hall was alerted to the clear-cutting, Wilson said
“It doesn’t show good faith,” said Wilson, adding the MNR enforcement branch has been asked to look into the matter.
Perhaps of greater concern now to the Greek community, both the mayor and city hall planning staff indicated Tuesday that bulldozing a woodlot the parties had agreed to protect could jeopardize the owner’s current plans.
“This may entail a review of the whole project … it (protecting the woodlot) was part of the proposal,” said Wilson.
Because “they went in there and eradicated everything that was there,” ERCA spokesman Tim Byrne said it’s now up to the Ministry of Natural Resources, which has jurisdiction over matters of habitat protection, to decide whether to investigate and prosecute or order mitigation measures.
The Greek Community received $14 million in compensation from the province in 2009 for their former 12-acre property home off Highway 3, needed for the Herb Gray Parkway. By 2011, they had paid $4.3 million for the 12-acre industrially zoned property off Walker Road.
Two years later, an independent assessment in conjunction with the Grace site proposal pegged the Walker Road property’s value at $1.6 million.
“There was no reason whatsoever to clear that lot,” said Margaritis. He said there was both anger and confusion expressed at Monday night’s board meeting, with a lot of questions remaining.
“I’m shocked. I don’t feel anything was done wrong,” Athanasopoulos said. “We did this to make the place look a lot nicer.”
dschmidt@windsorstar.com or on Twitter @schmidtcity
