THUNDER BAY - For members of the community who attended a public open house, the future of the Thunder Bay Centennial Conservatory needs to involve a lot of growth.
On Wednesday, the city of Thunder Bay hosted the public open house to collect feedback on the renewal of the Conservatory.
Kayla Dixon, director of engineering and operations with the city of Thunder Bay, said the open house is part of the needs assessment on the Conservatory being conducted by the city,
“The needs assessment has a couple of different phases,” she said. “We are looking at actually an assessment of the plants within the Conservatory to see how healthy they are and what the chances of transplanting those are into a new facility or if we need to look into a rebuild option when we renew the facility.”
The city received $100,000 from the federal government as part of Canada 150 funding, which will go toward the Conservatory renewal.
According to Dixon, the Conservatory will remain as a conservatory, but the facility itself could see some big changes, which may include an entirely new facility.
“That is the direction we feel this probably will head into,” she said. “The greenhouses themselves will be replaced, so we are looking at new production greenhouses, and the facility itself, probably we will look at a full rebuild, it could be a build over option, or a rebuild of that facility.”
The public was invited to share what they would like to see as part of the Conservatory renewal and based on some of the feedback, one of the aspects lacking in the Conservatory is enough space.
“I would like to see it enlarged,” said Shirley Hyslop. “And I would like to see the end wings reopened.”
Hyslop said the Conservatory has always been a peaceful place for her and her family to visit and she would like to see additions to the facility that she has seen in other conservatories.
“We went to a greenhouse in Vancouver, and they had a large lunchroom, which was very nice,” she said.
Holly Rupert, who is the coordinator with the Thunder Bay and District Master Gardeners, said the Conservatory has a lot of potential to teach the community about horticulture.
“If we are looking at a new building, it would be excellent if there was a multipurpose room or teaching space to allow master gardeners or other groups who are interested in urban horticulture to do workshops and demonstrations and help people get more engaged in gardening,” she said.
Rupert added that space is an issue at the current facility, with the pathways being too narrow.
“There are concerns that even the way people can access the collection inside the Conservatory is difficult,” she said. “It would be nice if it was larger with more space and better signage so it can be a place people can come to and learn about plants.”
Whatever changes are made to the Conservatory, Rupert hopes more people will become aware of just what it has to offer the city of Thunder Bay.
“It’s one of our gems,” she said. “It’s surprising to me that there aren’t more people in Thunder Bay who visit it. It’s partly because it’s an older facility. I do notice when families come, they slow down, they have an off screen, unplugged time together and children are engaged. It’s a place for relaxation and engaging with something green.”
Dixon said after the public feedback is collected, recommended conceptual designs will be brought back to the public. Replacement of the greenhouses is expected to begin this year.
