Residents in southeastern Mississauga cheered Wednesday morning after the province announced the site of the old coal-fired Lakeview Generating Station will not be home to a new natural gas power plant.

"I'm happy to announce that Lakeview's future in electricity generation is over," George Smitherman, who recently took over the energy portfolio, said to rousing applause.

His statement ended months of speculation that a new plant could be built on the site, which is located on the waterfront just west of the Toronto-Mississauga border.

The former plant was demolished in June 2006 as part of the government's agenda to shut down heavy polluting coal facilities.

Jim Tovey, president of the Lakeview Ratepayers Association, said Wednesday's announcement ended a long and emotional fight for local residents and environmentalists.

"This community has contributed to the GTA, to Ontario and to Canada since 1896," he said.

"It's now time to say, 'we'll clean it up,' and we'll still be contributing because now we are going to be able to give Mississauga a waterfront that nobody else has. It's going to be spectacular."

Mississauga city council voted unanimously earlier this year to approve a citizen-driven plan to build a $2 billion waterfront community on 200 hectares around the site, the Toronto Star reports.

While one neighbourhood welcomed the good news, another may soon become upset because the province says it needs to build the new 800-megawatt gas plant nearby.

"I totally understand that no one really wants power infrastructure near them," Smitherman said. "We just want reliable supply of energy when we flick the switch"

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion praised the province for making a decision on the Lakeview site, but said she is readying for another battle.

"You know my position -- I fight anything that is not good to the citizens of Mississauga," she told reporters.

The Ontario government says the rapidly growing city of Mississauga and the southwestern GTA needs a new source of power online soon.

There will be a competitive bidding process to determine the future location. The current frontrunner is the Southdown neighbourhood, which is just west of Lakeview on the lake.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Chris Eby