Ric Knudson, owner of Ric’s Buy & Sell, surveys the brownfield site across the street from his business on East Main Street in Welland. Photo by Craig Leach

At one time, Welland was a manufacturing and industrial powerhouse in Ontario. 

It was ideally settled at the converging point between road, rail and sea transport into the United States and beyond. Powered hydroelectrically by the Niagara River, industry thrived and large mills, plants and factories employing thousands of residents dominated the landscape.

There was United Steel, Plymouth Cordage, Atlas Steels, and Welmet, just to name a few. However, as manufacturing jobs moved overseas, Welland’s clout as an industrial heavy began to wane. Empty building facades, dormant factories and acres of overgrown lots, known as brownfields, are all that remain of the once mighty industries.

Smarter Niagara, an initiative spearheaded by the Niagara Region, has developed a strategy that attempts to attract long-term, sustainable growth to the area. “Development of the brownfield sites is important for the future growth of the Niagara region,” says Blake Landry, an economic development officer with the Niagara Economic Development Corporation.

“Remediating the brownfields is better than developing valuable greenspace and limits our urban sprawl,” continues Landry. He states the contamination from the previous industries that operated on the sites is a major challenge in the redevelopment but adds regional and provincial governments offer incentives for developers who wish to remediate the brownfields.

Kithio Mwanzia, policy coordinator for the St. Catharines – Thorold Chamber of Commerce, concurs with Landry, saying “the high, upfront cost associated with clean-up” is the biggest challenge in remediation.” Mwanzia adds that “the payoffs for brownfield redevelopment are significant … for every $1 invested in brownfield redevelopment there is a $3.88 return.”

For local businesses and residents, redeveloping the brownfield sites is a matter of appearance more than anything. “At least the field is nicer to look at than the building that was there before,” says Ric Knudson with a sly grin. Knudson runs Ric’s Buy & Sell across the street from the site where the Atlas Steel South Plant once stood on East Main Street in Welland.

Knudson would like to see the development of low-cost housing on the site. He believes that would benefit the relatively poor area of the city and possibly bring more foot traffic through his doors.

“It’s an eyesore in the heart of the city,” says a King Street business owner in Welland who wishes to remain nameless, of the brownfield located at 1 Albert St. This individual says the initial development plans for the old Welmet site, which included restaurants, a strip mall and townhouses, looked promising. However, this individual claims nothing has materialized and there has been no action at the site since the fall of 2008.

Mary Thomas, who lives across the street from the Albert street development, would like to see construction start on the site. “Anything I don’t care,” says Thomas “I am just tired of looking at that field everyday.”