A local group’s dream of building a grain elevator museum won’t be coming down any time soon after a city council decision Monday night.
City administration had recommended that council not endorse a National Grain Industry Activity Centre, a plan five years in the making by Friends of the Grain Elevators. Community Services manager Greg Alexander said the project didn’t look economically viable and while the group claimed economic benefits for the city if a museum were built, those benefits weren’t enough to warrant an endorsement.
"Quite frankly the economic impact of this project is quite low," Alexander said.
City manager Tim Commisso said when looking for government funding, the community led initiative could place city-led initiatives in jeopardy if the city endorsed the project.
"We have our own projects that quite frankly we have to secure funding," Commisso said.
But council decided to send the matter to its inter-governmental affairs committee in order to help the group find funding and tweak the project.
Group coordinator Nancy Perozzo said that’s what the group wanted when they first approached the city in June. Perozzo said the group wants a joint venture with the city to look for funding outside of Thunder Bay.
"It was never our intention to have the city take care of those expenses," Perozzo said.
Perozzo said Halifax’s Pier 21 and Winnipeg’s Canadian Museum for Human Rights are a few examples where the federal government has funded major cultural projects.
Perozzo said while federal funding might not be there today, the city’s endorsement would help secure that funding should it become available.
But Alexander said in speaking with the federal government, it seemed less than enthusiastic about designating a national heritage site for the city’s grain history.
"Parks Canada is giving I would say a lukewarm reception to this," Alexander said.
But Mayor Lynn Peterson said having the inter-governmental affairs committee take a look at the project might help it get off the ground.
"We’re pretty good at making maybes into yes’s," Peterson said.
Also Monday, council asked for a report from administration after a request from Special Olympics Ontario for $13,000. That’s the cost of the games using three city buses for transportation when the city hosts the winter games next January.
