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Although the City of Mississauga is often referred to as a suburb (and still boasts a ton of distinctly suburban subdivisions), it's growing quite rapidly and moving forward on a number of ambitious place-making projects.

One such placemaking project is Inspiration Port Credit, a plan that includes the grand-scale revitalization of Mississauga's waterfront.

Now, the city is asking residents to weigh in on its plan to redevelop the marina at 1 Port Street East.

For those who are unaware, 1 Port Street East and 70 Mississauga Road South are two of the city’s key waterfront sites where the Credit River meets the Lake Ontario shoreline. The city says the revitalization of these sites will create a sustainable creative community on the waterfront.

While the project is quite grand in size and scope overall, the city is currently focusing on the future of the marina.

In fact, the city recently announced that it's beginning an environmental assessment, which will study a proposed expanded land base for additional waterfront parkland. It will also examine any marina alternatives for the existing site.

The marina, which is not yet owned by the city (the city approved the purchase of the lands from the Canada Lands Company but the current owner still has some time remaining on the lease), will be part and parcel of the overall 1 Port Street East site. According to the master plan, the community will be designed as a healthy and complete neighbourhood that is pedestrian-friendly and augmented by transit, mixed-use facilities and recreational opportunities.

The community will also boast employment opportunities and commercial space, retail areas, hotels and restaurants.

The master plan says a minimum of 6,000m2 of new office space is required, as well as a minimum of 6,300m2 of retail, restaurant, "marina marketplace," artisan workshop cultural/institutional and educational space.

A full-service marina is, of course, part of the plan. It will include dockage and on-land boat storage, boat repair, chandlery, boat sales, charters and other related retail and small scale office uses.

The city says the 1 Port Street East proposed Marina project is intended to help fulfill the Master Plan vision "to ensure that an iconic and vibrant mixed-use waterfront neighbourhood and destination with a full-service marina is developed at the 1 Port Street East Site".

The project will, ideally, enable the continuation of the site's historic marina function—something the city says is integral to the cultural identity of the Port Credit community.

The city also says the plan will support marina and other business activity; create new waterfront parkland with safe public access and allow for improved aquatic and terrestrial habitat.

So, how is the city moving forward?

The first step of the process is the preparation of a terms of reference. If the city's terms of reference are approved by the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks, they will provide the framework for the preparation of the individual environmental assessment and will build upon all of the background work already completed for this site.

The city is also asking the public to weigh in.

"Members of the public, agencies, Indigenous communities and other interested persons are encouraged to actively participate in the environmental assessment process by attending consultation events or contacting staff directly with comments or questions," the city said in a statement.

"Consultation opportunities are planned throughout the environmental assessment process and will be advertised on this project website, in local papers and by direct email to those on the mailing list."

Those who are interested in learning more about the project can attend a public information centre on July 18.

The information session will take place at Clarke Memorial Hall (161 Lakeshore Rd. W.) and include an open house (4 to 8 p.m.) and a presentation at 6:30 p.m.

What do you think of the plans for the marina?