Latest news with #ThunderBayCityCouncil
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.
CBC
08-04-2025
- General
- CBC
Council approves Cumberland Street North site for temporary shelter village
Thunder Bay City Council has approved a location on Cumberland Street for a temporary shelter village that would serve the city's unhoused population. City administration was recommending a location on Fort William Road, across from the CLE grounds, in a report that went to council on Monday night. However, an amendment was tabled that instead suggested the Cumberland Street site, which is near the Salvation Army's Journey to Live Centre. "That was ultimately the resolution that passed," at-large Coun. Shelby Ch'ng said on CBC Superior Morning on Tuesday. Ch'ng said the site had been looked at by the city previously, but it hadn't been discussed prior to Monday's meeting.
CBC
21-03-2025
- General
- CBC
City of Thunder Bay now recommending complete recycling of James Whalen tug
Higher-than-expected bids have prompted the City of Thunder Bay to change its recommendation on preserving parts of an historic tug boat. Last fall, Thunder Bay City Council voted to preserve parts of the James Whalen tug, and recycle the rest. "The tender went out in January, closed early February," said Cory Halvorsen, the city's manager of parks and open spaces. "The award was based on the base price of recycling the entire vessel, and then there were three provisional items that were provided in addition to the base price." "Those provisional items included a group of about 10 individual pieces, or portions of the vessel that could be sort of selected individually," he said. "And then there were two versions of preserving the deck, either the top deck or the entire deck from the water line up." However, base price of recycling the entire vessel came in higher than the city estimated, Halvorsen said. "We had budgeted $290,000 plus or minus 30 per cent at that time," he said. "The base price came in at $579,000." As a result, the city is now recommending council award a tender to recycling the entire Whalen, not preserving any of it, in a report being presented on Monday. The Whalen was built in 1905, and was brought to Thunder Bay after it was retired in the 1990s. It had been moored at Kam River Heritage Park until it was found submerged in the river about three years ago. The city has since moved it to a dry dock on private land. The report states the city did look at some other options aside from recycling the vessel. There were discussions with the Transportation Museum of Thunder Bay, for example, "to offer them the opportunity to fund the provisional items included in the tender that would retain select pieces or entire portions of the deck on the condition that they would fund the additional costs and take over full ownership." While the museum was interested, the report states the museum — which operates the Alexander Henry historic ship that's docked at Pool Six — said it was unable to commit unless it received a "viable long term land use licence," which would allow the museum to apply for funding. The problem with that, Halvorsen said, is the city has a limited amount of time to award the tender, and negotiation a land use agreement with the museum would take months. Moving the Whalen to another city-owned site, meanwhile, would be very challenging, Halvorsen said.
