Windsor Ward 9 City Council candidate Kieran McKenzie, October 19, 2018. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.Windsor Ward 9 City Council candidate Kieran McKenzie, October 19, 2018. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.
Windsor

Ward 9 candidate speaks on future development

A candidate for Windsor City Council has sounded off on what will likely be the city's next growth area.

Kieran McKenzie, longtime aide to Windsor West MP Brian Masse and a Ward 9 candidate for city council, held a media event Friday afternoon on a cul-de-sac of Ray Road, a residential street in south Windsor that McKenzie said will be near the next area of commercial and residential development.

Beyond the end of the cul-de-sac is a large area of farmland that McKenzie said will soon see the development of thousands of homes and businesses in the long-term.

"We've already zoned the land that's immediately behind me for a massive expansion of residential investment," said McKenzie. "There will be upwards of 7,000 homes that will be built behind me over the next 20 years."

McKenzie told BlackburnNewsWindsor.com that all of the land in question has been zoned for residential development. The area is also not far from the site of the planned mega-hospital, on the southern edge of Windsor Airport.

While the expansion of space for residents and the probability of more money coming to Windsor's tax base are encouraging, McKenzie said that the growing pains come with their own scars.

"On the 7th Concession [Road], we've licenced two or three different logistics firms that are operating on that street as we speak," said McKenzie. "The road is not built, in my opinion, to safely accommodate freight traffic. You see the condition of the roadway on 7th Concession. It's not good."

McKenzie said if he is elected to city council on Monday, issues regarding the development of this area will be a priority.

Also running in Ward 9 are incumbent Hilary Payne and challenger Alex Aggarwal.

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