Jack Masters says there’s no question Innova Park is the best site possible for a proposed $80 to $100-million event centre.
The ex-mayor said there are far too many positives to the long-vacant business park to overlook it, should city council actually go ahead and built the facility, a replacement for the aging Fort William Gardens.
Consultants have been asked to consider three locations – Innova Park, the downtown north core and lands adjacent to the Thunder Bay International Airport. Public opinion appears to be split between the first and second options, with the airport all-but-ruled-out by those same consultants during a recent public presentation.
Masters said Innova Park offers everything the city’s looking for in a site.
“My reason for wanting Innova Park is accessibility for the total community with ease. It’s more accessible to our neighbouring municipalities, and I think we’ll be counting on them a great deal, and our far-flung municipalities – the North Shore, Atikokan, Dryden and so on – that all come into Thunder Bay for entertainment purposes and whom we will need very much to support that kind of facility,” he said.
Parking is also better at Innova Park, and he dismissed the argument that’s arisen that it’s in the middle of nowhere.
“There are all kinds of things around there and most people drive to the restaurant or wherever they’re going after the game anyhow,” he said.
Masters wasn’t the only ex-Mayor voicing his opinion on the subject.
Lynn Peterson, who took over the mayor’s chair in 2003 and served through 2010 when she lost to current mayor Keith Hobbs, was a little coyer in her response when asked earlier this week.
“I do (have a preference), but you know, I’m going to let the community decide that. I think that the bottom line is the entire community has to benefit from its location,” she said.
Her predecessor Ken Boshcoff, a member of the present city council, however, said all things being equal, he’d choose the downtown north core as his preferred site, adding that in his long political career he’s never seen an issue this big with so little opposition.
“If the north core can address the parking issue, then from a planning standpoint, north core should be the choice,” he said.
Mayor Keith Hobbs, like Peterson, said he wants the public to decide not only the location, but whether or not the project gets the go ahead to begin with.
Hobbs suggested an extensive phone survey or a plebiscite tied to the 2014 municipal election is his preferred ways to proceed.
“I haven’t heard too much in the community that people don’t want it. The big thing seems to be where, Innova Park or the waterfront,” Hobbs said.
“I’m going to make my decision based on all the homework that we do. We have a consultant working on this and I want to wait until all that is done.”
