Coves land deal nears

London Free Press Mon, May 5, 2008

DEVELOPMENT: A Brantford firm hopes to buy a former paint plant property to build condos and a park

By DEBORA VAN BRENK

A long-awaited turning-point for the sensitive Coves area of London may be at hand. King and Benton, a Brantford company specializing in cleaning and redeveloping contaminated industrial land, has finished the final phase of soil tests on the former Valspar paints property it hopes to buy at the foot of Duke Street. "You're going to see a bunch of things happen there very shortly," said company president Steve Charest. "We should have the results of those tests in the next couple of weeks." If all goes as the company expects, "then we'll close (the purchase of) the site and roll up our sleeves" to complete the cleanup and to work with various local officials to bring condominiums to part of the property. The bulk of the 28-hectare site would be set aside for public access and protection. That element has been eagerly anticipated by the environmentalists, whose vision for the area includes habitat preservation for numerous bird, fish and plant species. Friends of the Coves group's president, Thom McClenaghan, says the future of the Coves is inextricably tied to the Valspar lands. "It's a real gem," London Coun. David Winninger said recently. The Coves, a series of land-locked ponds that used to be connected with the Thames River west of downtown, is marred by contamination from a paint factory that operated there since the 1950s. First the Alma Paint and Varnish Co., then Almatex, then Lilly and finally Valspar, the plant closed in 2001 and was razed in 2007. Some cleanup has taken place, but Charest said more remediation will "absolutely" need to take place. "We haven't got a handle on the scope (of that) yet." He said the company has spent a lot of money and time researching this site -- more than any other it's investigated -- and suggested the firm doesn't do this degree of diligence simply to walk away from a purchase. "It's one of the most special pieces of property that I've ever been on . . . a spectacular piece of brownfield." But besides the cleanup, there are still layers of regulatory hurdles to overcome. The area is mostly floodplain -- any development needs approvals from the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, the city and the province. But Charest said he's encouraged by ongoing talks with all levels of government and citizen groups.