A group of Windsor residents is urging the city to reconsider opening a portion of a previously-protected woodlot to development.
A petition drive has been started on Change.org, asking Mayor Drew Dilkens not to open 50 acres of the 150-acre South Cameron woodlot to commercial development. Residents in the area had been concerned since hearing the news and have expressed worry about the environment being compromised, as well as an increased potential for basement flooding as a result of development on wetlands.
The mayor announced last week that the Ford government has lifted its "provincially-significant wetland" designation on that portion of the lot, in response to a request Dilkens made to Premier Doug Ford in December 2018. Dilkens said Friday that the area was always planned for development and that the designation should have been made by someone who actually visited and assessed the woodlot and not whom he called a "bureaucrat in Aylmer, Ontario".
Dilkens pointed out also that the change in designation does not necessarily mean development will take place.
The petition was started on Friday and as of Monday morning had gathered roughly 1,800 signatures.
