Council votes against closing Matchette Road after emotional meeting

Windsor city council has decided not to consider closing Matchette Road to protect endangered species after an emotional discussion that saw audience members stand up and leave and the entire meeting temporarily halted.

• Big Box store could threaten environmentally sensitive land

• Argument against Ojibway developement limited to traffic concerns

A long list of delegates came before council to raise concerns about the animals run over by cars on the stretch of road that runs alongside Ojibway Prairie Complex.

In the end, though, council decided against going through with an environmental assessment for the closing ofMatchetteRoad and will insteadconsidereco-tunnelsto allow wildlife to safely travel under the roadas part of the 2018 budget.

No other option, says Dilkens

The lengthy discussion about the possible closure was punctuated by booing and cat calls from the audience, but Mayor Drew Dilkens said ultimately, councilhad no choice.

"To move forward with closure of Matchette Road at this time would certainly have put this corporation in a great legal of jeopardy," he said. "In this case I would say the chances of losing for the city were 99 to one."

During their presentation to council, representatives of the Coco Group, which has an agreement approved with the city and approved by the Ontario Municipal Board for a proposed big-box store development near the natural area, made it very clearefforts to delay that project would result in legal action.

"Any action to delay or harm our site will be seen as an act of bad faith," said Anthony Rossi, director of government relations for the organization.

Standing down meeting a first for mayor

Audience members made so many comments during Coco's presentation that Dilkenstemporarily had the meeting stood down something the mayordescribed as a first for his political career.

Confusion reigned as the mayor and councillors stood up and left the room while a member of security initiallytold audience members they would have to leave.

One woman yelled out, calling council "a joke" while a man said he pays taxes and deserves to be heard. After a few minutes of people milling around, city staff explained there had been a misunderstanding and audience members could stay.

Council returned after about five minutes to a much calmer group and the discussion continued.

"I don't know how many times I had to caution the audience," Dilkens said after the meeting to explain his decision to stand down. "It didn't matter what I did, I couldn't control it and ... it's just not fair to any of the speakers or participants in the meeting."

Throughout the meeting residents joined with a naturalist and conservational biologist to plead their case for closing the street, which they described as deadly for many creatures.

Greg Goggin, who lives near the park, said he routinely scrapes road kill of the street, including snakes and raccoons, while biologist Jonathan Choquette said Windsor could very well be home to the highest rate of snake road deaths in Ontario.

Several councillors sought to find a compromise between a complete closure of the road and another way to protect the sensitive habitat with seasonal closures and better lighting suggested as options.

Although eco-tunnels are still on the table, several residents said they were disappointed by the outcome.

"There's absolutely, positively no concern for road kill," said Gogginafter the meeting. "Whose best interest is the City of Windsor looking at? Are they looking at the people that live there and care about nature or are they looking at Coco Paving?"