Sir: Since the closing of Navistar in Chatham, there have been rumours of soil contamination and what to do with the property, etc. From what I see (because I don’t know of the soil condition), the site is sadly empty and there is a need for Chatham to see that something is done for a number of reasons.
First off, pretty soon their will be a casino up the street, with very little parking space (as far as I can see), but I can picture the area around there is going to be golden for some businesses to be able to get some of sort of build-up piece of the action in the surrounding area.
This should be a wake-up call to businesses to get a piece of the action, namely overflow from the Casino traffic and appropriate land use in that particular area would seem to be the Navistar property.
I live only a few blocks away on Inshes Avenue and if I want to go to the casino, I can walk. Not so for many of our citizens and they will have to park.
There are plenty of eateries in that area, so that isn’t a problem, but overflow is overflow and businesses should be taking action if they want to get a piece of the action.
I personally can’t do so as I have been around for some 76 years and I am not going to get involved but someone, and maybe the new mayor should be getting involved with discussions at council meetings about getting that property assessed (no matter who owns it) and maybe purchasing it and getting soil samples to see what is in the grounds of the former truck plant and for the Chatham community for future building programs.
That is an important area in Chatham, and I think I see what the casino sees in that property for the growth of Chatham.
Jim Daley
Chatham
no worries chatham kent will do what it wants as long as it is for chatham only… nothing goes on in chatham kent unless it benefits chatham… i won’t use the capital theatre or a new arena but it will put other chatham kent arenas at risk just so chatham gets what it wants… maybe cat taxes will pay for the new arena and don’t tax me in small community that will not benefit from chatham bullying