Plan to develop West Arthur area moves forward

THUNDER BAY – Public feedback will help move the city's West Arthur development plan forward now that phase two is complete. 

The city held a public information event in June at the West Arthur Community Centre to gather feedback on what residents think of the city’s best-use plans for the West Arthur area, also known as Parkdale.

Aaron Ward, manager of engineering for the City of Thunder Bay, told Newswatch that out of the 80 residents who attended the event, he heard some fairly positive feedback on the project.

“I found it to be more positive than negative on the feedback that I personally received," Ward said. "The folks that I had spoken with were more like, as long as things happen appropriately and they're informed and we're trying to protect the natural features that are there, they'd be satisfied.”

The study area is approximately 1,220 hectares of land located at the southwestern limit of the city’s urban settlement area, including all the lands north of Arthur Street, west of Highway 61, south of Highway 11/17, and east of Mapleward Road.

Phase two built off phase one’s preferred land use plan, which identified several key areas where further potential urban low-rise and urban mid-rise housing, and light industrial lands can be developed.

Ward said phase two of the project took the preferred land-use plan and started to identify the area's infrastructure needs, traffic impact, recreation and the possibility of constructing a new school.

According to the phase one study, which was conducted in 2023, 76 per cent of the study area was designated as a natural heritage site due to William Bog.

“If one takes a closer look at the preliminary preferred land use plan, you'll see that's where we've identified, with back and forth with our parks and open spaces section, as well as the school board, preferred locations for the community park as well as the school space and those spaces all back onto the bog because the bog provides a kind of additional amenity and function to those spaces,” Ward said.

Ward said the city is not planning to develop on William Bog, but instead, they are looking at how it can be used to enhance the natural environment with a trail connection.

“We can try to explain the environmental benefits that the bog provides, plus the flood protection side of things that the bog provides, to help to understand the complexities with developing in the bog," he said. "I think as a general citizen, you may not know it's not just in the storm water, the flood mitigation, but the species, the environmental, the trails that are available to that area, too.”

He said while developers cannot build on the bog, the city is looking at options to “recreate in the bog.”

“So, while we have like the community park outside of it, you can still recreate and play catch and hike and so on, to have those spaces being connected just provides a great opportunity,” Ward said.

The study also identified a known archaeological site, which is also part of the environmentally protected area.

“A phase-one archaeological assessment was done, which identified the known sites, but also areas that have high potential for archaeological features,” Ward said.

According to the phase-one study report, there are two registered archaeological sites: one near Highway 11/17 and the other near the Neebing River within the Parkdale Estates subdivision.

Ward said those areas will require a stage-two archaeological assessment before any development can occur.

He said right now his team is taking the public feedback to see how it affects the preliminary plans on the land use study area. Once the phase two final report is finished, the city plans to host another information session this fall.