Northern Ontario developments!

[vid]

It was announced yesterday that OLS is moving into Victoriaville, bringing 200 jobs.

[1ajs]

with the winnipeg nhl stuff still pressing forward, they are now saying thunderbay could be getting the moose

[vid]

Yup.

People seem to be generally in favour of building a multi-purpose events centre. The biggest issue is likely going to be where to put it. If it goes in one end of town people will flip out about favouritism and parking, while if it goes in Intercity, no one really benefits from it except gas stations and people who like to break into cars while events are going on and no one is around to see it.

[russman]

Great news about OLS Vid. I think the new multiplex would be perfect for the old bus terminal site. The only issue would be relocation of the Cameron Substation. Parking could be an issue as well.

[vid]

There would be ample space on the site if it was removed, but on the news they said that the lot would be on the small side, so I doubt they'll be moving it if the multiplex goes there. The parkade is almost always empty outside of business hours, and most events happen outside of business hours, so just offer free or discounted parking and a shuttle bus and the parking problem will be mostly alleviated.

[vid]

The First Gulf proposal for Innova Park has been cancelled, but transportation improvements will continue for the site as the city resumes marketing it.

http://www.thunderbay.ca/City_Government...ateTime=634110336000000000&PageMode=View

[eternallyme]

Heard about the Northern Ontario Heritage Party (secessionist) being revived and planning on running candidates in 2011?

[vid]

Yeah. I think like the last one, it will fold once the provinces throws it a bone and 20 years later we'll make another one. Or it will take votes away from whatever party is leading in the next election and we'll all end up with opposition MPs who accomplish nothing like we have at the federal level. It's absurd how much money Harper has pumped into Kenora to "reward" them for voting for the "correct" party.

Leons is taking shape. It's gonna be one big, ugly building.

[F. Lionel]

Construction has begun on the Walmart Expansion at the RioCan Centre.

I heard an interesting rumour from a friend who works for London Drugs in Winnipeg that they are supposedly expanding to this city in the near future. They had been looking into the First Gulf development apparently.

Went to Trowbridge on the weekend - the whole intersection at Copenhagen and the highway has been cleared and some of the heavy earth moving looks like it has started. I thought they hadn't awarded the contract for this yet?

The generic strip mall redevelopment of the former Roxy's is moving along quickly.

I've also heard that the new cardiac laboratory and clinic at County Fair is already looking to relocate nearer to the hospital into a new building. I am just waiting for inevitable announcement of a wrecking ball for what remains of that mall.

[vid]

Leon's is well on its way to being the ugliest thing in this city, bar any politicians.

--

Open houses about the new zoning by-laws will be held on:

June 22 at Oliver Road Community Centre at 6:30pm
June 23 at Council Chambers at 6:30pm

No presentations or meetings of council, just an open house/submit comments thing.

June 21's council meeting will involve official plan amendments but the notice doesn't say what kind of amendment.

The city has released an official notice of the lands for the courthouse being declared surplus and sold to the crown, and that the parking lot beside Chapples Park and the lane way currently used as North Syndicate will be reserved for parking for the courthouse.

http://www.thunderbay.ca/City_Government/News_and_Strategic_Initiatives/Notices_to_the_Public.htm

City Council meetings will be broadcast over the internet for the next few weeks. You can watch them here: http://www.thunderbay.ca/City_Government/City_Council_Meetings/Watch_Council_Meetings.htm

After about a month it will end and they'll study it and maybe it will come back for good, who knows? I used it last Monday, it works pretty good but you can only mute the volume, can't turn it up or down.

[toaster]

A friend of mine who lives in Sudbury told me there is a TARGET opening in the Rainbow Centre. Would this be the first Target in Canada? Or is my friend getting mixed up? He sent me a picture with the sign and it looks legit.

[welcome]

A friend of mine who lives in Sudbury told me there is a TARGET opening in the Rainbow Centre. Would this be the first Target in Canada? Or is my friend getting mixed up? He sent me a picture with the sign and it looks legit.

Target plans on international expansion and Canada and Mexico are the two markets the company wants to grow in.

[vid]

Listening to the Friends of Grain Elevators presentation to city council, the are looking primarily at the UGG site in Intercity or the abandoned grain elevator between Richardson's and Viterra C in Current River, but they say the Port Authority owns the UGG elevator and plans to tear it down which makes that less feasible. Council wants them to consider Pool 8, because it is downtown.

[welcome]

does any one know some history to the Thunder Bay airport as I like to know how it's so big for Thunder Bay and if it's big for any one reason.
Thanks.

[vid]

It was first opened in 1938 as Fort William Municipal Airport, and used during WWII as a testing site for planes built at Canada Car and Foundry which is about a kilometre away. I think it replaced an airstrip near where that factory is now. It was expanded to its current size in 1994 and the main runway was extended last autumn.

Because of our remoteness it is the most attractive option for getting to another city. Sudbury is about 5 hours from Toronto, Thunder Bay is about 20 hours from Toronto. We can fly to Toronto in about 4 hours, so we prefer that option. (We have about 8 flights to Toronto a day on three airlines.) The airport also serves as the primary hub for regional air lines like Bearskin and Wasaya to connect Aboriginal fly-in communities to each other and the world, and lately many prospectors going to the north have used it as a base.

The airport is basically our primary transportation connection to the world, so naturally it is well developed for a city of this size. Sudbury, being closer to other cities, doesn't rely on its airport as much. The airports proximity to the city centre (about 5 kilometres from downtown) also helps, the only draw back is it is so hemmed in that expansion is difficult.

[F. Lionel]

One of the original sites that was almost chosen for the airport is very near where Intercity Mall now sits. The original plan was for a joint Sea/Land Airport here but this plan was nixed because of the long distance CanCar would have to transport its planes for test flights (not to mention that they would have to be rolled through downtown Fort William). I think it was CD Howe who eventually had the current site selected with a modest sea plane base built in Port Arthur to calm the locals.

The current airport replaced an earlier airfield which adjoined the Municipal Golf Course in Neebing which was called Bishopsfield, named for Billy Bishop, which had been opened in the late 20s. It replaced an even earlier airstrip on Mission Island which was nothing more than an open field.

The size of the airport is due, in part to the remoteness of the Lakehead, like Vid said. During WWII the airport served as the test strip for CanCar and was also one of the Elementary Flying Training Schools established to train the airmen of the British Empire for service. The paving of the runways was originally paid for by the US Government because grass runways weren't suitable for the operation of the Helldiver dive bombers CanCar was turning out. After the war our remoteness made us a necessary re-fueling stop for intercontinental flights.

One of the reasons the current site was originally not selected was due to the lack of expansion space between the Neebing Rail yard and the TransCanada highway (Arthur Street) and possible hazards from the nearby power lines that fed Great Lakes paper. But politics ruled the day and the site was pushed through. Somethings really don't change I guess.

[softee]

Full article
http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2626194

City issues tender for civic square as part of waterfront project

Green space with lighted fountains
By MARIA CALABRESE The Nugget

A tender is going out this week to build a civic square near the CP station as part of the next phase of the waterfront project, a green meeting was told Wednesday afternoon.

The tender is expected to be awarded at the end of July, and work could start by the end of the fall and be completed next year, said Michael Puccini, a member of the not-for-profit Community Waterfront Friends volunteer board of directors.

[vid]

Demolition of two houses at the DSSAB building has begun. (It actually started on Monday but the equipment arrived today.)



---

The private sector part of Prince Arthur's Landing is coming along. The condos are finishing the architectural design phase and should begin marketing this fall with construction to begin next spring. Three companies are expressing interest in the hotel, and had representatives in the city today to take a look at the site. More.

Rehabilitation of the May Street bridge over the Neebing River is ahead of schedule, and could be complete by the end of August.

Opportunity Thunder Bay is promoting a vision they call "Centre Core".

The police have unveiled an interactive crime mapping website.

[vid]

One down, one to go at the DSSAB site:



The retirement home at the former Isabella School site hasn't progressed much in the past few months:





The Petro-Canada at Norah and Arthur is gone, I don't know what (if anything) will replace it:

[tjernobyl]

Rumour is that Mike's Mart is moving one of their stores there.