Coast is clear for waterfront development.A second phase of North Bay's waterfront development is underway, aimed at transforming a former industrial brown-field site into parkland. This year about $2 million will be spent to fit out and clean up the 38-acre property, known locally as the rail lands, to eventually open up access between the city's waterfront and the downtown core
The Downtown Core is a 266-hectare urban planning area in the south of the city-state of Singapore. . City officials were meeting in mid-February with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to ask for $1.3 million as part of their $2.6 million plan to outfit the refurbished Canadian Pacific station as a tourist attraction Noun 1. tourist attraction - a characteristic that attracts tourists attractive feature, magnet, attractor, attracter, attraction - a characteristic that provides pleasure and attracts; "flowers are an attractor for bees" and other site developments. The concept is part of a 10-15 year urban waterfront renewal project fronted by the city and a citizens group called the Community Waterfront Friends. Renovations to the 102-year-old CP station will be complete by the end of March. The three-storey building will be converted inside in what Waterfront Friends spokesman Rod Johnston called a "discovery centre" with interactive displays and a locomotive simulator. Friends raise funds Five years ago, the volunteers secured money from SuperBuild and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund is a division of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines in the Canadian province of Ontario, whose purpose is to provide funding and program support to foster economic development in the economically disadvantaged Northern Ontario region. and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from the community, the city, CP Foundation and private donations to fund the $1.2 million project. More site work will be carried out this year to shape a park out of a brownfield See greenfield. site used for 100 years for rail transport. North Bay CAO David Linkie says there were some "modest" contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. soil issues in one area of the property, now being used by Dalron Construction for a housing development. The city has now completely remediated the soil and is awaiting the final signoff from the Ministry of Environment. Other oil-contaminated areas exist in the area of an old roundhouse and a diesel refuelling re·fu·el v. re·fu·eled also re·fu·elled, re·fu·el·ing also re·fu·el·ling, re·fu·els also re·fu·els v.tr. To supply again with fuel. v.intr. area. That remediation work will be done this summer. Both Linkie and Johnston say the rail lands project remains a work in progress as the community rolls out the plan spending $1 million to $2 million each year over the next decade. The property is owned by the municipality MUNICIPALITY. The body of officers, taken collectively, belonging to a city, who are appointed to manage its affairs and defend its interests. with the project's vision coming from the Community Waterfront Friends. Investing in the future The city's $12 million acquisition of the property from Canadian Pacific Railway Canadian Pacific Railway, transcontinental transportation system in Canada and extending into the United States, privately owned and operated. The construction of a railroad crossing the continent in Canadian territory was one of the conditions on which British was viewed as a long-term investment in the city's future. In the late 1990s the city unveiled plans to build an elaborate $30 million tourist attraction on the rail lands known as Passage North to take advantage of a one-time $15 million grant to Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it cities. But the attraction was a difficult sell to the public until the Community Waterfront Friends produced a plan to mix uses involving residential, parkland and recreational development. "North Bay is in this unique situation," says Johnston. "We've looked at other cities and no one has the situation of city located around a park with the lake as a backdrop." Central perks If done right, developing a park that people would want to live around, similar to New York's Central Park, would rejuvenate re·ju·ve·nate tr.v. re·ju·ve·nat·ed, re·ju·ve·nat·ing, re·ju·ve·nates 1. To restore to youthful vigor or appearance; make young again. 2. the downtown and see hundreds of millions of dollars in new development, says Johnston. Dalron Construction is building a $25 million seniors residence at one end of the property and downtown property owners are fixing up old buildings into new accommodations and restaurants at the edge of the proposed park. Plans for next year include major steps to link the downtown with the city's lakefront and Memorial Drive by construction of two underpasses beneath the existing rail lines. A $1.2 million pedestrian underpass is being planned as well, opening up an extension of Ferguson Street behind the old CP station to allow access to the waterfront. The other underpass will be a $900,000 extension of track of North Bay's popular mini-train attraction and will allow snowmobilers coming off Lake Nipissing Lake Nipissing (French: lac Nipissing) is a lake in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is km ( sq mi) in surface area, has a mean elevation of m ( ft) above sea level and is located between the Ottawa River and Georgian Bay. access to downtown shops. "We need to get this critical infrastructure in place with the underpasses and then it's a relatively straight forward process of the Community Waterfront Friends starting to develop other things," says Linkie. "Once we have the underpasses in and the property shaped, it's going to easier to find people to fund each of the attractions that go in." New this summer New attractions on the waterfront will be added for this summer, including the installation of a second Heritage Carousel and a greenhouse. "So far, the things Community Waterfront Friends have done have been far more successful than anyone ever imagined," says Linkie. Last year, the Heritage Carousel generated $166,000 while the mini-train took in $126,000. Both the volunteer group and the city agree that the attractions must not only pay for themselves, but be sustainable from a social and environmental standpoint. Future plans call for a greenhouse and botanical gardens A botanical garden is a place where plants, especially ferns, conifers and flowering plants, are grown and displayed for the purposes of research, conservation, and education. , an outdoor theatre, an observatory and grassy common areas with athletic fields, a children's play area and a water park. Johnston says when the park is complete in 10 years, coinciding with the four-lane completion of Highway 11, the lakefront will dramatically change North Bay's profile. "Our park is going to be one of our key attractions where you'll come and spend the whole day." www.waterfrontfriends.org By IAN ROSS Ian Ross is the name of:
Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion