Mayor backs vision for river area

London Free Press Sun, July 20, 2008

By JOHN MINER

The vision of developing a section of the south branch of the Thames River into a district of stores, restaurants and clubs is one that should be pursued, London's mayor said yesterday. "I hope there is a lot of support for it," said Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best. "I think from the city perspective we should be as creative as we can to allow whatever development is going to help, not only clean up that site, but take advantage as much as possible of the river." Landscape architect Ron Koudys is calling for the development of the south branch of the Thames River from South Street hospital to the London Hydro parking lot. London has a spectacular river, he said, but no one can see or use it in that stretch. Koudys and others who favour developing the south branch of the Thames point to San Antonio, Texas, where the river has been developed into a top tourism attraction in the state. DeCicco-Best said she has visited the San Antonio River Walk. "We probably couldn't reconstruct something quite like that, but the idea of taking advantage of the river with restaurants, shops and cafes and making it a real destination is worth pursuing," she said. An opportunity for the city to take advantage of the area will come with the closing of South Street Hospital. While the aging buildings are owned by the hospital, the city owns the land. "Council has been talking about it for a while, but we don't know how long the site would take to be decommissioned. You can't really plan until you know that," DeCicco-Best said. Woodstock Mayor Mike Harding, who also shares the Thames River, agrees that the river can be a major asset for a city like London, but he has a word of caution. Woodstock backed the expansion of a golf course on farmland next to river lands, followed all of the rules, but was turned down by the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority after intense lobbying by local environmentalists. "Our challenge now and the challenge for anyone in the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority is what constitutes the rules. "We don't know what the rules are anymore. It is highly politicized," Harding said. DeCicco-Best said she is optimistic the city can work with other groups that have an interest in the river. "If you get people involved at the outset and start having a lot of conversation about what you want to do and how you want to develop it, you can work things out. "But you can't do something that will create a problem later on," she added. "You can't build on floodplain land."