By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer
Andy Brandt was one of the most active – and popular – Mayors in Sarnia’s history.
Elected our 64th Chief Magistrate in 1975, the 36-year old native of London, Ontario, immediately set out to transform the face of the Municipality.
Working with private developers, Mayor Brandt helped replace a row of crumbling old buildings on the west side of Front Street with a string of impressive new high rise office and apartment towers.
“We had an unsightly waterfront that had been a burden on the City for many years”, he recalled during an interview. “It looked like Berlin in 1945. Take a look at Sarnia from the Bluewater Bridge today and it really is extremely attractive.
Council granted the rezonings needed to make the high rises possible but it insisted the land behind them be left in the public domain so people could stroll along the waterfront from Centennial Park to Ferry Dock Hill.
Early in his second term Sarnia became the first Ontario Municipality to obtain a $1.1 million loan under the Ontario Downtown Revitalization Program. The money, along with other loans received by the City, brought expenditures for downtown revitalization up to $5.5 million.
With public money in place, Mayor Brandt set out to lure private developers. He made a pitch to the Board of Directors of the T. Eaton Company, convincing that firm to locate a department store in the proposed Sarnia Eaton Centre.
The value of downtown projects built or approved during his six years in office topped $50 million, including $30 million for the Eaton Centre.
While all of this was going on the Chemical Valley was experiencing a billion dollar building boom that included the construction of Petrosar and Union Carbide. Industrial leaders proposing worldscale petrochemical plants in Moore Township were approaching Mayor Brandt for help before making their applications to Township Council.
Soon after being elected Sarnia MPP in 1980, he lobbied successfully for a new highway between Sarnia and London.
He went on to become a cabinet minister and Tory Leader, but getting the long awaited highway off the ground was “probably the most significant accomplishment” during his time at Queen’s Park.
The father of two daughters chaired the Ontario Liquor Control Board for a number of years.