A new 5-year agreement at an operating cost of approximately $2 million has just been signed between Marina Valleyfield and the City of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
Several administrative changes will take place at Marina Valleyfield. The organization, which recently adopted new general regulations, will have a new board of directors next June at its annual general meeting. However, unlike its former council, the new policy stipulates that the new administration will be composed of five members approved by the City and four sailing members from the marina elected by the members, half of whom must reside in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
According to the mayor of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Miguel Lemieux, the modification of the agreement ensures that the community will be represented in decision-making. “Under this agreement, the organization will contribute close to $2 million to the city over the first five years. The contributions will cover over time the costs relating to the repair work on the banks specific to the marina site, in addition to providing the City with additional leeway to finance other structuring projects,“ explains the first magistrate.
According to the municipal administration, this new approach and its requirements will be a lever for the development of tourism and the revitalization of the downtown, since the site represents a clear potential economic value. In a letter sent to VIVA MÉDIA, the City of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield explains that the new agreement ensures the viability of the marina in the community, the financing and carrying out of the shoreline repair work, but also the reappropriation of the site by citizens and its full integration into the downtown core.
For his part, Mr. Carl Sinray, Chairman of the Board of Directors, explains that Marina Valleyfield is pleased to be able to continue its collaboration with the City and to work together to make Salaberry-de-Valleyfield a boating capital.”
The fence will disappear
If this agreement could go unnoticed, another reality that should emerge shortly will not go unnoticed. There is talk of removing the fence around the marina site at the request of the City of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield to open the site to the public, with the exception of certain spaces such as the docks, the pavilion and the swimming pool. Thus, citizens and visitors will be able to walk there. As for the strip of land, it once again becomes the exclusive property of the City of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. Developments would also be planned, and these would be with the avowed aim of being conducive to walks, starting from Parc Marcil.
Other agreements to come
The operations and management of the site will also be reviewed as part of future agreements, particularly concerning the winter storage of boats where cohabitation with the citizens of the sector will be prioritized, the use of the blue building, the management of the docks at the Delpha-Sauvé Park and the eventual holding of a sailing school.
A popular site, because exceptional
With its 400 docks with services, the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield marina is one of the three largest marinas in Quebec. Ranked four gold anchors by the Association maritime du Québec, the marina offers the particular advantage of being accessible on foot from the nautical center of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. It is a real treasure, one of the most prized, which must serve the City and its development.
