Latest news with #CrystalMeloche
CTV News
10-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
LaSalle celebrates the groundbreaking of massive $200 million commercial development
LaSalle is seeing a $200 million commercial project being built. CTV Windsor's Bob Bellacicco checks it out. There was no hiding how LaSalle mayor Crystal Meloche felt Thursday morning at the site of a massive $200 million development. 'So excited to finally be the day we're breaking ground and, hopefully, in less than a year we will be cutting ribbon,' Meloche said at the official groundbreaking ceremony for the town's largest ever commercial project. 'We're seeing so many different things coming to the site. There's a possibility of the hotel. There's a possibility of a gas bar. There's the grocery store. There's banking. There's Shopper's (Drug Mart). There's restaurants. You name it, it'll all be here,' she said. The D'Amore Group and Petretta Construction have partnered on the commercial development near the Windsor Crossing Outlet Mall. Work will be spaced out over two phases. 'You're going to see a couple of things hopefully open before the end of the year but the majority of the things here in, I'll call it phase 1A, will be opening in the spring of next year,' said Scott D'Amore, president of The D'Amore Group. When The Shoppes at Heritage is complete, D'Amore said it will be the crown jewel of the 280-acre development. The 24-acre site that is under development will house over 250,000 square feet of commercial and hospitality space and create over 400 jobs. Hundreds of jobs have and will be created on-site throughout the duration of the project which is expected to carry over into 2027. 'It truly is the type of project that can transform a community,' D'Amore noted. D'Amore believes, despite the uncertainty of U.S. tariffs, the project will come in on budget because everyone involved in the project is doing their best to work together to be as cost effective as possible. 'There's things currently that are being stored that we're not going to need for six months that we normally wouldn't have purchased for six months, but the price was right,' D'Amore explained. 'We could lock it in, we could adjust it like we talked about it, maybe the vendor eats a point or two, maybe we eat a point or two, but we deliver that end product at an agreeable cost.' LaSalle Shoppes at Heritage ground breaking LaSalle breaks ground at the site of The Shoppes at Heritage in LaSalle, Ont. on July 10, 2025. (Bob Bellacicco/CTV News Windsor) The town's first McDonald's is set to be an early opener with Food Basics, Dollarama, Taco Bell, Pet Valu, and Shopper's Drug Mart also making commitments to the development with others waiting in the wings. D'Amore feels having big name companies interested in their project in LaSalle has helped and will help commercial properties near and far. 'I think you're going to see whether it's across the street and our neighbors at Windsor Crossing, start to get more of a tenant mix or whether you see it other places in Windsor, Essex County,' said D'Amore. 'I think the fact that people have now dug in and looked into Windsor, they're hopefully going to see, I believe they're going to see that we got a market worth investing in.' The development will feed an area in town that is under-serviced and growing. 'We are going through that Howard-Bouffard Secondary Plan where we're going to see the town grow by another 20,000 plus people and this location is very close to where that development will be, so that'll provide those residents with groceries and food options close to home.' Meloche said.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
LaSalle looks into policy limiting frivolous bylaw complaints, some residents feel 'harassed' by neighbours
LaSalle town council has asked its staff to come up with a policy to address frivolous and vexatious complaints from residents — saying some people are using the town's bylaw division to harass neighbours and express displeasure over annoyances that are not bylaw violations. Mayor Crystal Meloche introduced the motion at Tuesday night's council meeting. "We've seen an uptick in neighbourly disputes," Meloche told CBC. "And they find the best way, I guess, to anger their neighbours – or I don't know what it is – is to call the bylaw department, and they put in complaints." LaSalle's bylaw department received 325 complaints in 2024, according to a report provided to council in April. That's a 21 per cent increase over 2023, when there were 268 complaints. Town takes complaints seriously Staff estimate that the town's population has only grown around 10 per cent since 2021, said Director of Finance Dale Langlois. The overwhelming majority of the complaints, 191 in total, were related to the town's clean yard bylaw, representing a 59 per cent increase over 2023 numbers, according to the report. "The main offences included tall grass/weeds and exterior property debris, which resulted in the completion of 16 properties being remediated/cut by the town's employed third-party contractors," the report read. The town takes complaints seriously, Meloche said, so bylaw officers will visit properties, make sure residents are complying with bylaws, educate them on how to comply if not, and follow up to make sure they've addressed any problems. "But what we're seeing is neighbours who are calling for reasons that are not against municipal bylaws," she said. "We will go out there, and we will confirm that the neighbour's compliant, and nothing needs to be done. "And the neighbour will call again, and they will put in another complaint ... So what we're finding is, we're getting people in our town who feel that they're being harassed." The town only has one bylaw officer to serve the population of around 35,000, and that person is wasting a lot of time on "neighbourly disputes," she said. The fire department is also getting complaints about people having legal outdoor fires, she added. Complaints about backyard fires LaSalle Fire Chief Ed Thiessen confirmed to CBC that the department gets occasional calls about outdoor fires, though said id it doesn't happen frequently enough to cause a problem for the service. "As long as they're … the proper distance away from structures and that they're burning clean materials … they are allowed," he said. Meloche said other complaints she's heard about involve loud dogs and loud cars. Her goal with the motion, she said, is to find a way to continue treating all complaints seriously, while shutting down repeated complaints on matters that have already been investigated — and potentially even fining residents whose repeated, unfounded complaints cost the town money. The motion passed unanimously. Coun. Jeff Renaud was the only person to speak to it during Tuesday night's meeting. "One thing I learned in the last 11 years with being on council is I have very good neighbours," he said. "And there's probably twice as many people out there that don't have very good neighbours, and I see a lot of resources being wanted on frivolous complaints."
CTV News
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Ribbon cutting for ‘loop' phase of LaSalle Landing project Saturday
LaSalle Landing seen in LaSalle, Ont. on June 27, 2025. (Gary Archibald/CTV News Windsor) The 'loop' phase of the LaSalle Landing project opens on Saturday. The fencing is down surrounding the $9 million park, which features a walking path for the warmer seasons and a skating trail in the winter. The LaSalle Landing waterfront project cost approximately $50 million and joins Gil Maure Park, Front Road Park, and Riverdance Park, a 60-acre site at the riverfront. LaSalle Landing LaSalle Landing seen in LaSalle, Ont. on June 27, 2025. (Gary Archibald/CTV News Windsor) A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held Saturday at 4:30 p.m., with food trucks on hand and a movie night at the event centre at 6 p.m. On Canada Day, LaSalle Mayor Crystal Meloche said this will be the first Canada Day celebration in LaSalle and the first drone show at night. An official opening of the skating trail will likely take place in November.
CTV News
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Big-budget projects getting set to open
The winter loop at LaSalle Landing is seen in this image from November 2024. (Source: Town of LaSalle) The Loop at LaSalle Landing is almost complete. 'It is nice to have it coming together,' said LaSalle Mayor Crystal Meloche. The fencing is down, and citizens can now see what has been going on since late last year. 'Residents are getting really excited, and they're excited to come walk in and see what it's all about,' Meloche said. People should be able to enjoy the park and trail, estimated at around $9 million dollars, at the end of the month. The Loop will be ready for its first official event on June 28th when the Rotary Club of LaSalle has a grand opening for the Rotary Circle. 'And then we have our first big event here on Canada Day,' Meloche told CTV News. The Canada Day celebration at the Loop will include food trucks, buskers and entertainment followed by a different kind of show in the sky at night. 'We're going to do a drone show at night,' Meloche said. 'Something a little bit different than all of our neighbors who are going with fireworks this year (to celebrate Canada Day). We've decided we wanted to do something unique and get people down to the LaSalle Landing to come check it out.' Another project to check out soon takes place July 13, when the City of Windsor celebrates its 133rd birthday. Along with the festivities will be the grand opening of the long-anticipated new City Hall Square. 'Growing up in downtown Toronto at Nathan Phillips Square, we have our own now,' said Ward 3 City Councillor Renaldo Agostino. The project cost just over $15 million dollars and like LaSalle, caught heat from some members of the public. 'I know what everyone says, 'Well, we could have spent it on more supports. You spent $25 million on supports last year,' Agostino noted. 'You got to have fun things for people to do in your city. You got to make people want to come downtown. You got to breathe life because life adds life.' Both Windsor and LaSalle look forward to opening each facility for skating in November. There is a side bet between Meloche and Agostino with the loser having to skate on the winner's ice, but both agree the amenities are important to the region for personal well-being and economic growth.
CTV News
10-06-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
LaSalle Pickleball Association seeks to gain exclusive use of courts at LaSalle Landing
LaSalle council will be asked to sign a memorandum of understanding between the town and the LaSalle Pickleball Association (LPA) on Tuesday night. Administration is bringing forward a report that recommends the town enter into a pilot project granting LPA exclusive use of three pickleball courts at LaSalle Landing. LPA is seeking use of the courts Monday to Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. from June 16 until Oct. 31. LaSalle Mayor Crystal Meloche said the association plans to offer different levels of programming for their members. 'I did get a chance to talk with their association president, who mentioned how they want to be able to grow their club, and so they're going to have certain nights that are more for beginners, and then they'll have other nights that will be more of a competitive play for people who are looking for a little bit more competitive pickleball, and so they're just trying to really grow their program in the Town of LaSalle, and so that's why they're looking for this opportunity to work with us,' Meloche said. Meloche said there will still be courts available to the public. 'There will be some other courts that are still open to the general public to be able to use, and then there'll be some that will be reserved for them for their exclusive use, so that they can do programming, or offer training sessions, getting more people involved in the sport,' she said. Last July, council voted in favour of converting two of the four tennis courts into dedicated pickleball courts at Front Road Park . Meloche said it's been a success so far. 'Tennis has been something in our community for years, and we have the new courts over at the Vollmer, but we didn't have a lot of pickleball, so we were looking to be able to expand the options for pickleball, or residents were asking for it, and so that was our opportunity to do,' Meloche said. 'We added more courts there, and we hope to eventually add more courts at the Vollmer next to where the new tennis is, but that's still to be discussed in the future.' If approved, the town will charge LPA a capital reinvestment fee of $5.90 per hour for the duration of the season. Based on the proposed time period, the total seasonal fee would amount to $1,280.06, aligning with market-value fees applied in similar recreational agreements across other municipalities. - Written by Dustin Coffman and Rob Hindi/AM800 News.
