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2012-10-22 at 11:12

Redevelopment of old school on council's agenda

By tbnewswatch.com

There's a new proposal coming forward for the former Sir John A MacDonald school.

Redeveloping the old elementary school in the Red River Ward has proved to be controversial in the past. A 13-unit condominium and 48 residential lots once planned for the property drew a lot of opposition from people who live in the area.

So did a potential loss of greenspace.

Council will also hear about a new plan for the old school, and nearly nine acres of surrounding property.

Nordmin Engineering is looking for approval for a technical office.

The company is involved in designing and starting up mining and heavy industrial facilities.

Nordmin would like to renovate and update the building and move its staff of more than 100 employees into the vacant school.

The only concerns to come forward so far have been over maintaining the greenspace and a request that no communication tower be erected on the property.

In other business, Council will appoint a new member of the Police Services Board following the resignation of Mayor Keith Hobbs. Councillor Brian McKinnon is putting his name forward.


(Thunder Bay Television)

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Tbnewswatch.com(11)

Comments

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Tim H. says:
I thought innova place was going to be the center of excellents for mining? A resendential area seems pretty dumb to me
10/22/2012 12:48:39 PM
Doug Roberts says:
Yes Tim, I think Innova Park has been promoted as a centre of excellenCe but not much is going on there right now. And the property is institutional (school use) not residential. Meanwhile, this school building has been turning into an eyesore, sitting empty and abandoned for years. A local, very successful engineering company with over 100 employees (and growing) wants to buy this existing building, on an already serviced lot, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on renovations and improvements to transform it into a state-of-the-art office building, maintain the greenspace and not make any more of a footprint on the land than what is there now. I don't understand why anyone would have any objection to this obvious good use of space.
10/22/2012 5:28:17 PM
sugar says:
"potential loss of greenspace"?? Thunder Bay is not lacking in greenspace, we have plenty, look around..lol
this was actually a concern? wow, some people must really dig deep to come things to bitch about!!
10/22/2012 12:48:39 PM
tsb says:
That isn't the appropriate place for a large employer.
10/22/2012 1:05:07 PM
panzerIV says:
If anything I would hope that Tbaytel looks into using this building as a place for a tower. If they add a couple floors in the redevelopment it would provide for some great cell service in that area.

It would be nice to see this building used for something other then graffiti and drugs. People are so worried about the green space but little has been done to address the massive amounts of broken beer bottles, needles and other activities in the area.

At a minimum its nice to see some infil instead of building out all the time.
10/22/2012 1:07:32 PM
grs says:
Tbaytel has a tower less than 1 km away. Intersection of Balsam and Wardrope behind Pete's Auto.
10/22/2012 2:08:45 PM
jb says:
There are massive amounts of used needles? Where exactly? Granted, I don't walk/bike through this property daily but do cross through 1-2 times a week (in front, behind and through the basketball court) and have never seen any needles or come across anyone using needles. I'm not denying that there might be used needles there but I think your wording is a tad excessive.
10/22/2012 4:45:36 PM
jimmyboy says:
If this is the case that the city is serious about using up some of the empty schools...
then WHY is TBayTel.......even considering leasing a new building which has yet to be built for their ENINEERING DIVISION.as per the following which appears to be on the agenda this evening at city hall.???

Copied and pasted from the city website today: Zoning By-law Amendment - 751 Tungsten Street

To consider an application to amend the Zoning By-law to allow for the development of a technical office. The applicant intends to construct a one-storey building which is to be leased to the engineering division of Tbaytel. The southern portion of the site will be developed as a parking lot in conjunction with the proposed technical office.


I know that TBayTel is a huge profit center for the city of Thunder Bay...so with that said would it not be prudent for TBayTelto build and own their own building's.....why would they want to rent or lease in scenario...I clearly understand for example and agree with their renting/leasing the space they presently do in the Thunder Centre Mall area for example.

Could you please advise why they are going in this direction with their operations.

I would think with the number of parcels of land that the city presently ownes...or has taken back because of un-paid tax's there should be no reason what so ever that they as their own business unit....should have difficulty finding a suitable location on their own for the new space they apparently require.!
10/22/2012 1:32:16 PM
redwing says:
can't wait for the nimby's to get on this one!
10/22/2012 4:46:35 PM
hadenough says:
I can't see how this would fit into the neighbourhood and the City's "Master Plan"
Just because it's zoned light industrial does not mean that industry needs to set up shop there. Change the zoning. Divide it into large lots and sell them off privately instead of a developer. Give the small guys a chance to build a home rather than buying from a developer.
10/22/2012 6:14:54 PM
monicker says:
Wait why would anyone think that they are going to put a communication tower back there... You can call and ask Tbaytel any time and they will tell you that their current tower is actually going to be built on 275 Madeline right across from St. Bernard School.
10/22/2012 7:55:32 PM
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