Latest news with #AndrewFoulds
CBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Thunder Bay's long awaited designated truck route bylaw back before council
Social Sharing Heavy trucks may soon find themselves limited in terms of how they travel through Thunder Bay. The city's long-in-development designated truck route bylaw is going back before council on Monday. The bylaw, if eventually approved by council, would limit transport trucks to specific roads in the city. The proposal would prohibit the trucks from using Highway 102 or Arthur Street; instead, they'd have to use Highway 61 or Highway 11/17, and the Harbour Expressway, Main Street and Island Drive. "Heavy trucks will be able to travel to any delivery destination in the City," the report to council states. "Trucks will be required to traverse as far as practical along the new Designated Truck Route during a trip. They are required to use the shortest possible distance on undesignated [c]ity streets to their end destination while still adhering to the weight restricted streets. Enforcement will be by Thunder Bay Police." Coun. Andrew Foulds noted that council has already approved a designated truck route, but has yet to actually pass the bylaw itself. The bylaw will be presented on Monday, and councillors will debate and make a decision on that at their June 23 meeting. "I have been a supporter of the designated truck route from the very beginning," Foulds said. "I continue to be a supporter of the designated truck route." But, he added, moving truck traffic to Highways 61 and 11/17 won't completely eliminate risk. "Hwy 11/17 is built to a different engineering standard," he said. " This isn't a perfect solution, but for me, the deciding factor was the reducing of risk." Neebing Coun. Greg Johnsen, whose ward has Highway 61 as its eastern border, and includes a large section of Arthur Street West, said the designated truck route bylaw is "well overdue." Concerns over truck traffic on Arthur Street were among the first things he heard when he was elected to council, Johnsen said. "But I would suggest that this isn't just an Arthur Street or Dawson Road, issue or ward issue," he said. "This is a City of Thunder Bay issue." "We have a highway out there that the province has bought and paid for, if you will," Johnsen said. "The highway structure is set up to to deal with these heavy trucks." "It makes more sense to put this on a roadway that can handle it." The bylaw is not without opposition, however. Surrounding townships and municipalities have all submitted written statements opposing the bylaw. "On behalf of Council, I am writing to express our firm opposition to the proposed bylaw scheduled for consideration on June 23rd, which would prohibit trucks from accessing Highway 102 and divert transport trucks to Highway 11/17 ," Oliver Paipoonge Mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis wrote. "This diversion would significantly impact rural municipalities along the route, including the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge, particularly the Village of Kakabeka Falls, where there is an elementary school and a senior's home." More trucks through Kakabeka Kloosterhuis stated that a traffic study done in April 2018 revealed an average of 869 "heavy trucks" used Highway 102 each day. A second study done a year later showed an average of 758 heavy trucks used Highway 11/17 in Kakabeka Falls each day. "This data clearly demonstrates the city's diversion of truck traffic will double the number of heavy trucks traveling on Highway 11/17 through Kakabeka Falls," she stated. Conmee Mayor Sheila Maxwell said her community is also concerned about the increase in truck traffic should the bylaw pass. "The problem is we have always had the long loads, the chip drivers, the log drivers, delivery trucks, wide loads, hazardous loads, they've always come through our township because it's a flatter route," she said. "That village is also very, very busy." "Summertime, it's tourists, it's campers, it's hard for us locals even go into businesses, to get out onto the highway," she said. "Plus the school buses have a hard time getting out with the kids." 'It's not the road itself' Maxwell said there are other issues when it comes to highway safety and transport trucks in the area. "It's not the road itself," she said. "It's the drivers that don't have the proper training, or the companies that are pushing them, or it's the vehicles." "Directing that traffic through our municipalities, it's not the answer." Maxwell said the proposed Shabaqua Extension would address many of the concerns the surrounding townships have, as it would provide a route for trucks that don't travel through places like Conmee or Kakabeka. "The overall extension will connect Thunder Bay to Shabaqua and is part of the Ontario Highways Program," a Ministry of Transportation spokesperson said in an email to CBC News. "The Preliminary Design assignment for the first section of the Shabaqua Extension, from Thunder Bay to Kakabeka Falls, was recently awarded to WSP. Work on the Preliminary Design and Environmental Assessment will begin in the coming weeks." "As the preliminary design progresses, construction timing and scheduling details will be developed." McIntyre Coun. Albert Aiello, who's in favour of the designated truck route, said population density along and around Highway 102 is growing. And the trucking industry itself has changed over the years, as well, he said. "The vehicles are lot bigger, they're heavier, they can travel faster, they're automatic," he said. "Things have changed. And I think we need to change."
CBC
17-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Thunder Bay City Council to debate free parking proposal next month
Social Sharing A proposal to allow two hours of free parking in on-street, metered lots in Thunder Bay will be debated by city council next month. Administration brought the proposal forward in a report on Monday, May 12th. If eventually approved by council, it would see motorists get two free hours of parking, with the option to purchase two more, in metered spots throughout the city. A councillor — their name has not yet been provided — has agreed to table a motion at council's next meeting, which is scheduled for May 26. Council must wait a minimum of two weeks after the motion is tabled to debate and vote. Councillors representing Thunder Bay's business districts said Tuesday they're in favour of the move. That includes Coun. Andrew Foulds, who represents the Current River ward. "Most people, when they think of Current River, they they don't think about all the way down Cumberland into the core area," he said. "But of course the ward does meander down McVicar Creek into into the downtown." Foulds said the ward also encompasses part of Marina Park. "There have been a lot of proposed changes to parking over the last few years," he said. "I think we have to be honest with ourselves, some of the changes were fine with most people, and some of the changes, many people really struggled with." Foulds said he'll support the motion when it comes up for a vote, and noted supporting businesses in downtown cores is especially important given the Canada-US trade war. "I think there's another layer to all of this," he said, adding the "the whole issue south of the border has changed, I would say drastically, [in relation to] economic conditions, and the economic vibrancy of cities and their cores" in recent months. Westford ward Coun. Kristen Oliver, who's ward includes the Westfort Village business area, also said she'll support the motion. "The corridor between Brown and Edward, that's where the parking meters are," Oliver said. She noted that the services that people access in the area, whether visiting a pharmacy, a restaurant or a salon, can take longer than an hour. "Whether you're going in for waxing or you're shopping or you're having a meal, those typically tend to last at least an hour, I would say," she said. Oliver says the proposed change would allow customers to tap into the free two-hour parking option, and then offer an incentive to move on, "which then opens up that parking space for someone else to come in and utilize those services in that business corridor." Part of the proposal is also about the city getting more data on parking demand. The report that went to council Monday noted that there is "significant unused capacity" in the city's parking system, and the city isn't entirely sure why. "Given the many factors that have influenced parking in recent years — including the COVID-19 pandemic, revitalization projects, shifts in consumer habits, and rate increases — it is unclear what is driving current usage patterns." Council approved a new 10-year parking financial plan on Jan. 22, 2024, making several significant changes to parking in the city in the process, including: Increased rates. The introduction of paid parking at the Marina, and on Saturdays. Expanded hours of parking enforcement. The closure of under-utilized lots. The changes, the report states, were met with "significant community resistance," which led to some rollbacks, including the reversal of expanded enforcement hours. If council approves the new proposal, it would be in effect until the end of 2027. "We need to make informed decisions based on empirical data," Foulds said. "That's why we're, even though there's free parking, we're asking people to go to the machines and log into the app so that we have good solid data in order to make informed decisions on whatever the strategic direction is."
CBC
07-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Thunder Bay City Council ratifies Kam River park as site for temporary shelter village
Social Sharing After months of debate, city council on Monday gave its final approval to Kam River Heritage Park as the site of a new temporary shelter village. Construction of the village, which will include about 80 mini-cabins for use as transitional housing, is expected to start in July, with the first occupants moving in, in the fall. Council voted to approve the site at its meeting last week; that decision was ratified on Monday. "I think all members of council struggled with the decision," Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds said Tuesday. "It was an extraordinarily difficult decision, and listening to members of council both in open and closed session, what's very clear is every member of council, and I would also extend that to our administration, cares deeply about this community." "There is a recognition that we have a segment of our population that is really struggling and vulnerable, and all members of council want what's best and and that was evident (Monday) night." Thunder Bay's temporary shelter village will be built at Kam River Heritage Park 17 hours ago Duration 0:27 City administration was recommending the Kam River Heritage Park site for several reasons, including its proximity to other support services, and the fact that an encampment is already located near the park. The city has budgeted $5.5 million for construction of the village, and $1.5 million annually for operational costs; if construction starts by July and is complete by December, the city is eligible for $2.8 million in external funding. Now that the site has been approved and the decision ratified by council, the city will issue two requests for proposal: one for the construction of the village, and one for its operation. "The city isn't going to be running this," Foulds said. "We will be ... looking for a third-party operator." Carrie Anne Marshall, associate professor at Western University and director of the school's Social Justice in Mental Health Research Lab, said she has concerns with the use of mini-cabins. "I'm deeply concerned about the proliferation of sleeping cabins across North America," she said. "There isn't enough evidence to support the use of tiny homes and sleeping cabins or particularly specifically sleeping cabins, and yet we're pouring millions of dollars into these approaches across North America." Marshall said when it comes to mini-cabins and tiny homes, the latter is the better approach. "Tiny homes to me are kind of like small homes that have all of the amenities of any home or an apartment, that any of us would live in," she said. Mini-cabins, meanwhile, "don't have integrated amenities," Marshall said. "They usually have a bed, sometimes a fridge. They were insulated, often, but they're just basically a shed." "They're often situated in villages, where there is a building where a person can access running water and cooking facilities and that sort of thing." And they can be costly, she said. "I think it's perceived efficiency in terms of cost, and in terms of ease of setup," Marshall said. "But when we look at the the evidence on the various communities that are being set up across North America, they're actually really quite complicated." The villages, she said, often run into issues regarding placement, which leads to delays. But recent studies, Marshall said, also show that traditional congregate shelter models — including the use of former motels taken over by municipalities — are actually cheaper than village-style shelters. "There's a recent community that's being established in Hamilton that has gone $5.1 million over budget," Marshall said. "It's currently costing the city of Hamilton $7.9 million to establish 80 sleeping cabins temporarily for two years." "Then in the Kingston community, the city of Kingston dedicated $2 million to a sleeping cabin community for 15 people for a year and a half. If you kind of do the math, it's $7,407 per person per month in that year and a half, which far exceeds the cost of placing a person in permanent supportive housing." Marshall said a housing-first approach is more effective, as it's "demonstrated effectiveness over and over again for helping people to secure housing and to keep it for longer than transitional housing." "There's a lack of public housing that's deeply affordable, and there's almost nonexistent deeply affordable market solutions," she said. "So when a person's tenure in a temporary situation ends, there's often not enough housing available, deeply-affordable housing available for them." "So the temporary solutions tend to become longer-term solutions, and in the meantime, we're kind of diverting funding away from those permanent supportive housing solutions in order to fund these temporary solutions." Marshall said developing new, more-dignified shelter spaces — with a focus on safety and privacy — for people to use while waiting for permanent housing would be a better approach. "I think there are some possibilities for working with municipalities and with organizations to create shelter spaces that are more dignified and that are actually safer for people to be in without spending a lot more money," Marshall said. "It's really just a change in organizational policy that we're talking about at that point." "We could actually use the surplus funding to provide perhaps some permanent housing, or even temporarily some emergency shelter beds, while other housing options are becoming available."
CBC
15-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Thunder Bay City Council reconsidering temporary shelter village site
Council asks for report on previously considered locations on city's south side Thunder Bay City Council is again reconsidering its choice for the location of a proposed temporary shelter village. At its April 7 meeting, Thunder Bay City Council selected a site on Cumberland Street North as the location for the village, which would support the city's unhoused population. However, when it came time to ratify that decision at its April 14 meeting, council instead directed administration to examine Kam River Heritage Park, and a parcel of land on Fort William Road that's owned by the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority (LRCA), as potential locations for the village. Both sites have been previously considered by city council. A report is due back on April 28. "It's got to work and it's got to be set up for success," Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds said on CBC's Superior Morning on Tuesday. "I think that there are a number of pieces to that." "For me, the biggest thing is making sure that there are services close to some of our most-vulnerable citizens," he said. "And services aren't just social services, although those are really, really important. It's proximity to other services that everyday people engage [with]." Foulds explained city administration will create a report over the next two weeks, and will make another recommendation to council. Councillors were considering the Kam River Heritage Park site last fall. At the time, city administration recommended a location on Miles Street East over the Kam River park site; council voted against that recommendation in the fall. That led to administration coming back with a recommendation for the Fort William Road site, which is located across from the CLE grounds. Given the land is owned by the LRCA, the city would need to sign a lease. A report to council presented in early April noted a number of advantages to the location: The size; proximity to support services; readiness for construction (the land is flat and clear, and close to existing services like power and water); emergency access, and safety considerations (the village would be fenced in, and security and support services on-site 24/7). The Fort William Road site was up for an approval vote on April 7. However, council instead approved the Cumberland Street North site at that meeting. That brings everything back to Monday, April 14, when instead of ratifying the Cumberland Street North decision — which would have allowed the project to move forward at that location — councillors instead went back to the Kam River and Fort William Road properties as possible locations.
