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Dease Park investments on table for 2021

Future of pool site more uncertain, but city plans redevelopment of Dease Park to increase recreational opporunities.

THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay’s city council will see a recommendation for capital spending to redevelop Dease Park – adjacent to the recently demolished Dease Pool – in the 2021 budget, city administration revealed at Monday night’s city council meeting.

The future of the pool site itself is less certain. Its limited size could pose barriers to redevelopment, the city said.

Thanks to delays attributed to COVID-19, more details on proposed improvements at Dease Park may not be known for several months. In December of 2019, council had directed administration to undertake further consultation on the future of both sites and report back in the third quarter of 2020.

COVID-19 had delayed those consultations and strained municipal resources, staff explained in an update Monday, pushing a report back to March of 2021.

However, general manager of community services Kelly Robertson assured councillors the city’s draft budget for 2021 would include “some funding” to redevelop the park, though a figure was not specified.

Coun. Andrew Foulds worried about “another year of nothing happening there” without such a commitment.

A vocal movement of residents fought the closure of the Dease Pool for over a year, arguing the recreation opportunities it offered area children were essential.

The decision on how much money to allot to improving the park will ultimately rest with city council during its budget deliberations early in the new year.

In an email, Robertson told Tbnewswatch the city’s proposed plans for the park had found broad support during public consultations in the fall of 2019.

Those plans include a permanent change room and washroom building, a larger playground, a lighted skating rink with asphalt surface allowing for activities such as basketball in the off-season, open green space, an outdoor seating area, planting more trees, and traffic calming measures on Dease Street to connect with the Dease Pool site.

The redevelopment is expected to be completed using a “phased approach” over multiple years.

Plans proposed by city staff for the former pool site, such as a tennis or pickle ball court, did not find support from nearby residents, Robertson noted.

Whatever form the redevelopment takes, Robertson said the city recognizes the need for enhanced programming in the McKellar area.

The city is now planning to undertake additional consultation, including with the local skateboard coalition and older residents in the area, to determine potential future uses.

Those could be limited by several factors, Robertson said.

“We believe that there are limitations with the potential futures uses of Dease Pool site given its limited size, its proximity to residents, and the availability of Dease Park lands,” she explained.

The city has previously said other options for the pool site could include selling the property or revamping it as open parkland.

Details of the consultations are yet to be determined, in light of COVID-19 restrictions.

City council voted to close the pool, originally built in 1912, in December of 2018. Council confirmed the decision to demolish it in December of 2019.



Ian Kaufman

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