THUNDER BAY -- City staff were on hand Wednesday at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium (TBCA) to help residents fill out either a hard copy or an online survey to have their say on the new direction of a controversial indoor turf facility project.
Attendees at the session were shown details of the project, along with its estimated multi-million-dollar price tag, including the proposed site, next to the Auditorium, along with the facility design concept, floor plan, amenities and standard of construction.
“The city has put in a lot of effort into looking at different indoor tour facility concepts,” said the city’s director of engineering and operations, Kayla Dixon.
“We did do some work at the Chapples site and had some significant stakeholder and public consultation. Now we're looking to do the same sort of public consultation for this project.”
“We have moved forward now with some Geotech site investigations and environmental site investigations as well as looking at a new floor plan.”
In September, council directed city staff to explore making a hangar-like design beside the Community Auditorium as its preferred option for an indoor turf facility, which went against the staff recommendation to stick with Chapples Park.
The staff recommendation to stay with Chapples Park was estimated to cost more than $50 million.
A report from administration concluded that the SNO proposal was unlikely to deliver hoped-for savings, pegging its cost at $33 to $53 million, rather than the $20 million figure SNO had promoted.
There was also a small protest outside the Auditorium, led by concerned taxpayer Ray Smith, that featured signage demanding a plebiscite to show public support for the project.
"Council has directed us to report back in March with a business case for the facility. We are looking at the operating costs of the facility, and also do the stakeholder engagement. We will also be going back to provide a recommendation on the project delivery model," Dixon said.
During the long-term outlook session on Jan. 23 staff noted that there is $20.9 million outstanding approved or potential special debentures for the indoor turf facility, with the estimated annual debt servicing costs pegged at $1.7 million.
The survey will be active for three weeks.
