I have been compiling information on the CTC concrete plant and what it could mean for Ward 2 since news originally broke on this. Unfortunately, things are very busy so this has taken a little longer than I hoped. I want to share some timelines that and information that I have pulled together so everyone can be on the same page. There has been wide reporting on the emergence of CTC Concrete at 4000 and 4020 Sandwich Street. Since learning of this plant plans and approvals I have been working with City administration, reached out to local MPPs etc., filed a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of the Environment, purchased property records from the Land Registry Office (last two at my personal expense) to try and get a better understanding for what is happening and what might be coming next.

The map below highlights the two properties we are talking about – 4000 and 4020 Sandwich Street. 4000 Sandwich being the smaller property abutting Chappel St. and 4020 Sandwich being the longer narrow property next to the Detroit River with access next ETR tracks that spur to the Port Lands.

From property records I have constructed a rough timeline of how we got here.

Feb 19, 1999: Central McKinlay Transport International has certificates of ownership for both 4000 and 4020 Sandwich issued to them. Central McKinlay International is an affiliate of Canadian Transportation Company the owners of the Ambassador Bridge. 4020 has records going back to the 1960s where you could by waterfront land for $39,000. Since then, both properties have seen a range of activities including agreements, transfers, construction liens and easements (including with the City) but the overall ownership remained the same or ended up back with the Central McKinlay International.

Nov. 2023: Central McKinlay International change the name of the owner of the property 4000 Sandwich Property to Acheron Holdings Inc.. There is a discrepancy between here as Acheron Holdings which is a new name that I can’t find. At the same time there is an Acheron LAND Holdings which has been linked to the CTC in the past through court filings. Acheron Land Holdings also held portions of the former Abar’s properties at the end of Lauzon from my understandings. This is likely just an operational naming issue on the documents that I have received and they are most likely the same company or two separate shells that link back to the same source.

Early 2025  – The exact dates that the project began to move forward are not clear. It is unclear when they submitted their initial Provincial environmental applications hopefully this comes back with the FOI.

March 2025  – Building Permit applications for both properties are submitted to the City.

June 2, 2025 – Initial Site Plan Completed for 4000 and 4020 Sandwich St. and submitted to the City.

June 12, 2025 – July 27, 2025 – Ministry consultation period for both Water Draw and Air Quality Permits.

June 16, 2025 – Building permit issues for 4000 Sandwich Street.

June 17, 2025 – Stage 2 Site Plan for 4020 Sandwich St. Issued including: Stormwater Management, Fire Department, Site Servicing drawings, Parkland fee (paid to planning), Lot grading plan and ERCA approvals.

June 28, 2025 – Councillor Costante resigns from Council, triggering a by-election.

October 6, 2025 – Construction begins at 4000 Sandwich St.

October 29, 2025 – Ministry approves the Water Draw and Air Quality Permits for CTC Concrete

December 4, 2025 – Construction begins at 4020 Sandwich Street with full site plan approval

February 2026 – Reporting is published that Moroun’s contributed to Trump PAC and the Gordie Howe Bridge opening is delayed shortly after.

Late May 2026 – Signage goes up at 4000 Sandwich Street. Initial reporting by CBC.

June 2026 – Drone Footage on YouTube that provides a range of flyovers and broader background on the City/neighbourhood relationship with the Ambassador Bridge was released by WinAirvideo. Construction activities at the 4020 site can be clearly scene.

I don’t know how long it takes to get a concrete plant up but a quick google search finds a 3–6-month timeline. As the drone footage show foundations and pads being poured in early June, we are likely to see the plant ready to operate later in 2026.

On the Freedom of Information Request

In late June, I filed a freedom of information request for the full application information submitted by CTC Concrete. From my understanding, this application would include things like full site plans, air, water and noise studies, so we can see estimates of the levels of impact on the surrounding community that are being estimated by the bridge. On July 8^th I received a response around the scope of the request.

Screenshot of my personal email is a little hard to read but the Ministry is requesting an additional 45 days to complete the work as my request covered 845 pages of materials covering last calendar year related to the CTC Concrete application. The new deadline for release is September 3, 2026.

I will provide an update on this when I receive it.

Why did it get approved?

Unlike other Ambassador Bridge properties in the Westend, which are zoned residential and need city/federal rezoning to proceed with any other use beyond new homes, these lands have been zoned manufacturing district for a long time from my understanding. I don’t know the reason the Bridge bought them originally maybe to block the idea of a second crossing from the 1990s. The area in question is already in an industrial zone with the Windsor Salt and CoCo Aggregates being right next door to this property.

The properties are zoned as follows based on the City’s zoning by-law map:

• 4000 Sandwich Street is zoned MD 1.2 – Manufacturing District
• 4020 Sandwich Street is zoned MD 2.5 – Manufacturing District

Both zonings have “industrial use” permitted uses under the City of Windsor zoning by-law. Under industrial uses – it then defines “industrial activities” that are allowed unless explicitly excluded which includes a Batching Plant.

The result of this is that the property is properly zoned and a concrete plant can be built – “as of right” under the zoning. In this case, it means that no rezoning is required meaning it didn’t go to the planning committee and as a result CTC could immediately apply for permits.

Due to the zoning being in place, the City cannot block a building application under the Planning Act, Municipal Act and other legislative tools that I am aware. The property is zoned for industrial use, unfortunately concrete plant meets that requirement which means the City are legally obligated to approve a lawful building permit.

City Council was not engaged in the application due to the zoning being in place, the process was more or less “as of right”. Permits and site plans were moved forward through administrative processes and approvals and when requirements were met, they were allowed to proceed. Building inspections will occur as construction continues and if there are issues, they will be raised by the inspector. Again, these are administrative processes that City Council has standard engagement on.

On the Provincial Side

As I understand it, part of the Provincial approval process for plants like this is having proper municipal zoning (which the sites have). As a result, by having, the zoning as well as ownership in place, a major hurdle was cleared for the project. The process saw no comments submitted and the neighbouring properties operate as salt mine and aggregate yards.  Sitting in an office far away in Toronto, it doesn’t look controversial.

The process is supposed to be agnostic to the applicant, rather the merits and risks of the project. Despite the request being put in before the reporting on the Gordie Howe Bridge “lobbying” and “donation” there is a track record of questionable behaviour in our community and across the border that the Provincial Government should answer for. A quick google search of the applicant names or a conversation with local MPPs by the office would have raised these red flags but that isn’t part of the process as I understand it.

Through this process I have spoken with both MPP Gretzky and MPP Dowie on this issue.

I appreciate and support MPP Gretzky’s continued advocacy for Windsor West and Ward 2. To my knowledge at this point there hasn’t been a formal response from the Ministry on this issue.

MPP Dowie as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, his Ministry granted the approvals. When we connected, he has assured me that any environmental concerns raised by residents will be investigated once the plant is operational. He offered a range background details on Environmental Compliance Process -Air/Noise and Permits to Take Water if residents wish to know more the technical application processes and provides the background information on the applications and requirements – in theory my FOI should get some of this information. He also shared the Environmental Registry of Ontario which lists all the processes underway etc. that happening in the province. I find this Map link that shows all the completed and in process consultations in the province particularly useful and I have bookmarked it to check every so often. If you are interested in environmental issues in the community, keeping an eye on this map is a decent way to do it.

From a practical compliance standpoint, when the plant is operational, MPP Dowie encourages residents to watch for, document and report any recurring or material concerns related to:

• air emissions, including dust, particulates, odours, or visible emissions;
• excessive or abnormal noise;
• runoff, spills, or any discharge affecting land or water; and
• operations that appear inconsistent with the conditions set out in any provincial approval.

If you see them you can report it to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks – Windsor District Office and investigations if warranted will begin. I thank both MPPs for their engagement on this issue.

Neighbourhood Impacts

The recent ProPublica reporting on the Moroun owned concreate plant in Detroit has also stirred up several concerns. I do think we have to contextualize where this plant is and what is happening/happened in Detroit.

The Cadillac Heights had long been a mixed-use area which is like Sandwich Town, to a degree. The biggest difference was that the City owned many lots and abandoned properties where as to my understanding, almost every parcel in the immediate area of West Windsor is owned and in private hands. As part of a land deal between the City and Crown (concrete company) it gave them 34 more parcels throughout the neighborhood and the first rights to purchase others if they end up in the Land Bank by repossession due to tax foreclosure or other reasons. I personally cannot envision a scenario where something like this will ever happen in Windsor!

Looking at the City Zoning for the area from Chappel to Prince Rd, it is a mix of Manufacturing District (MD), Development Reserve Districts (DRD) and Commercial Districts (CD) all of which are owned by current property owners. Within the DRD zoned area are the residential lots along John B., Peter and Queen Streets.

The DRD zoned areas are from my understanding a carry over zoning as the name implies, these lands were flagged as reserve lands held in reserve future development. New residential construction is not allowed in this area but existing residential is permitted to stay. These lands go back to the pre-Gordie Howe Bridge days which saw the Brighton Beach area as a potential area for industrial development. In theory if a major economic development opportunity emerged, the City would expropriate the residential land in the DRD area to support the consolidation of lands for the industrial/economic use.

Although we may see some development in the area on vacant/underutilized land due to proximity to the Gordie Howe Bridge in the future. The ability for CTC to consolidate this land as they did in Detroit is very unlikely due to the fragmented ownership, mismatched zoning and physical boundaries of Sandwich Street and other side streets. This does not mean we don’t need to keep an eye on things, but there is a bigger short-term question.

Why Now?

As this property has been owned for years by Moroun related affiliates why they are building a concrete plant now is an open question.

In theory, negotiations between CTC and the City could be concluded allowing them to build their truck plaza at the foot of the Ambassador Bridge – I suspect that will take a lot of concrete. From my understanding, Moroun related companies played major roles in the construction of the plaza and interchanges on the US side, this could be putting pieces in place for that eventual work. At this point, this doesn’t seem imminent unless there is a change from the Ambassador Bridge side of things.

Who buys concrete from them in the meantime, I have no idea but the nice things about branded cement trucks is they are easier to spot #ctcconcretespotters. At this point we need to wait and see how things develop. There are lots of other moving parts in the West End right now with homes coming down, Gordie Howe Bridge about the open and a hot and smoky summer.

I am waiting on the FOI from the province and have a few more outstanding questions that I am working on related to this. As I get more information I will share it and if you have questions or concerns please reach out.