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Criticism and confusion clouded a crowded info session in South Windsor this week about city plans to sell a slice of historic golf course land for high-end condo development.
More than 200 people packed the Roseland Golf and Curling clubhouse on Thursday, less than a week after finding out higher-density housing could replace a 45-year-old neighbourhood fixture.
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Although the city encouraged public feedback through a survey and conversation with staff and politicians, several residents told the Star they felt the 38-unit condo building pictured on posterboards around the room was a done deal.
“It seems like it’s already said and done, and they’re just kind of waiting for our input, but it doesn’t really mean anything,” said Brandon Orlando, who lives nearby. “I think they’re just going to go ahead with what they want anyway.”
News of a Roseland project broke on March. 1, when Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens announced a closed-door council decision to explore housing development on eight city-owned properties. Five of those properties have been publicly identified so far: a parking lot on Pellissier Street; a parking lot on Caron Avenue; the former Grace Hospital site; the former W. D. Lowe Secondary School property, which the city quietly purchased from the Greater Essex County District School Board for $1.6 million a few months ago; and the footprint of Roseland’s current too-large clubhouse as well as some of its parking lot.
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Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis represents the Roseland area and opposes the condo plans. He’s expressed concern about such a building’s potential impact on the existing character of the South Windsor neighbourhood, which is predominantly composed of single-family homes.
But what Francis most vocally decries is the secretive, months-long process that led to this point — one with closed-door city council decisions he feels should have been made in public, and with opportunities for residents to participate ahead of Thursday afternoon.
During an in-camera meeting on Feb. 12, council decided what city-owned properties would be best suited for residential development, but not before Francis proposed moving the discussion to a public meeting. Francis’s lone supporter was Ward 7 Coun. Angelo Marignani. The discussion remained private.
Under the Municipal Act, council can close a meeting to discuss a proposed disposition of land, meaning the sale or lease of a property. However, council can still choose to discuss those matters during public meetings.
“Since the announcement last week, everyone’s surprised,” Francis told the Star. “The decision to put housing there was done by city council in an in-camera meeting with zero public delegates and zero public consultation.”
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Fulvio Valentinis, who served on city council for two decades and lives near Roseland, attended Thursday’s info centre. He said council’s decision should have happened during a public meeting.
“I don’t like to pass judgement. I was a councillor before,” Valentinis said. “I’ve been off council since 2014. I don’t comment on city council issues. But because it involves the neighbourhood here, we’re concerned about that. I think the process could have been … it sends out the wrong message.”
On the contrary, Mayor Dilkens said that “every property matter we’ve ever done at city council is done in camera” to allow for “open and frank conversations.”
Holding up a display board labelled “Roseland site redevelopment project consultation timeline,” Dilkens explained that the process — a process members of the public did not know about until last week — began in 2019. That’s when Roseland’s board of directors hired a consultant to undertake a strategic business plan for the golf and curling club.
In April 2020, the consultant recommended building a smaller clubhouse and making a portion of the existing clubhouse’s footprint and parking lot available for future development, though it doesn’t specify the kind of development. The development could generate revenue to cover the cost of a new clubhouse, the consultant suggested.
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Francis, who was chair of the Roseland board at the time, told the Star he’d had conversations with the consultant about recreational development, such as tennis courts. Francis brought up housing on the site as a bad idea, he said.
In December 2020, the mayor’s posterboard said, the Roseland board retained a consultant to undertake a clubhouse feasibility study. That study wrapped up in March 2021 and recommended the demolition of the current clubhouse, the construction of a new clubhouse, and that curling could not be supported at Roseland any longer.
Two years later, council sought options for the future of curling, as well as the redevelopment of Roseland’s clubhouse and parking lot.
In August 2023, council voted to end curling at Roseland. That same month, it voted in private to have an architectural firm create conceptual drawings of a high-end condo on Roseland property, along with public consultation on the redevelopment.
That public consultation took place this week — seven months later.
Meanwhile, council decided to relocate curling to the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex in December.
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Attendees of Thursday’s public information centre watched small children in hockey and bicycle helmets curl on the ice pads below, their fate already set in stone.
Mayor Dilkens told the Star he was hearing mixed opinions from residents about the proposed condo development. Some told him they wanted the existing clubhouse cleaned up and reopened as is, and others expressed a desire to move into the proposed condo building once it opens.
“The whole point of having a public consultation is to hear feedback and to get ideas. That’s why I’m here,” he said.
“I want to do right by the neighbours here, and I think the plan we’ve proposed are high-end condos which fit into this neighbourhood.”
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Francis said he was glad the mayor and members of city administration attended the public information centre Thursday to hear what residents had to say.
“I’ll fight like hell for my residents. That’s what they vote for me to do.”
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Susan LeClair, a nearby resident, encouraged Francis to fight against the condo development.
“We want a small community the way we have it,” she said.
“There are certain things we have to change, but we don’t want this — I agree with progress, but not this way.”
Some residents said they want a place to rent out for events, like Roseland’s clubhouse has now, and they fear a smaller clubhouse won’t offer that space. Some said they worry about increased traffic in the area and flooding on their properties
Valentinis said handing over public green space and selling it off to the private sector for development sets a “serious and considerable precedent.”
Roseland is a “sacred property” in Windsor that, along with Willistead Manor and the waterfront, sets the city apart from others, he said. Selling a portion of the property diminishes its value.
“It requires a lot of public engagement, and that really hasn’t happened. This open house is only six days after the announcement. Give people a couple of weeks to think about it and digest it.”
Ward 8 Coun. Gary Kaschak, the current chair of Roseland’s board, said he doesn’t think the condo development will impact the golf course’s “heritage aspect.”
“I’m cautiously optimistic that it’s going to work out here moving forward with a few tinkerings to the renderings,” Kaschak said, referring to the conceptual condo drawings.
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