The community based risk assessment - better known as the CBRA - has been like clearing the puck out of the corner for Port Colborne, according to Mayor Vance Badawey.

There's bruises, and it hurts, when you move the puck out of your zone at the sacrifice of a crushing forecheck.

But with the process, upon a final review by the Ministry of Environment, expected to finish in the next two years, it's smooth sailing ahead for the city's east side which has endured the most bruises from the CBRA beginning in the late 1990s when the ministry notified Port about soil contamination caused by Vale Inco.

Now, because of the proactive approach by Port, the city has won two-fold, said Badawey. Not only has the stigma of contaminated soil been cleared, with the final human health risk assessment report being presented last week, but the land is also development-ready, saving the potential investors' need to conduct environment or site-specific risk assessments.

"We've earned this win," said Badawey. "Every single resident, every business in this city that had to live with this for the past eight years earned this win."

City council and staff are currently in the middle of a community improvement plan being conducted with Land Inc. planning consultants for lands east of the canal. Expected to be finished within the next eight months, Badawey said the CIP, which will include a three-dimensional model that he hopes to have ready this summer, will be a key in marketing the area.

The east-side, he continued, is prime real-estate, and one of the only places with available lands for development in the city. Property alongside the canal and the waterfront, all the way up to Main Street, is in need of revitalization, said Badawey.

"It's time the City of Port Colborne started paying attention to the east side," he said.

For area residents, it's attention that can't come soon enough.

"Obviously it's been a very lengthy process," said Frank DiBartolomeo, Ward 2 councillor. "It's been very frustrating at times."

The city launched the CBRA initially thinking the entire process would take no longer than 18 months. With the final reports being presented to the various committee this summer, the CBRA has dragged on about eight-and-a-half years so far.

The series of reports, which include environmental contamination and human health risks, have been conducted by Jacques Whittard, paid for by Vale Inco. They were peer-reviewed by Rob Watters on the city's behalf, also funded by Inco and the whole process is being reviewed by the Ministry of the Environment.

"In my opinion, we studied everything and looked at everything," said DiBartolomeo.

Besides clearing the way for investment, other benefits of the CBRA include having a "benchmark" to compare health statistics in the city if some unforeseen disaster were to hit Port Colborne, said Badawey.

The future is bright for the oldest part of the community, he said. And although revitalization efforts were hindered by a problem Badawey says was "sensationalized" and common in other municipalities, he said Port's aggressive approach has given the city a "clean canvas."