Thunder Bay, Ont., council to consider cutting south-side outdoor rinks

Outdoor rinks, artificial turf and speeders are among the items Thunder Bay city council will address at its Monday, Oct. 2 meeting.

Among the agenda items is a recommendation from City of Thunder Bay administration to cut two south-side outdoor rinks.

The rinks on the chopping block are located at Tarbutt and Wayland parks both parks have two boarded rinks and one pond. The recommendation is to remove one boarded rink from each location.

A memo to council states that not enough people use the rinks, and only one is needed in each park. The change, if approved, would reduce the resources needed for rink setup and removal, board inventory, and maintenance.

The memo doesn't specify how much the city would save if council voted in favour of the recommendation.

Artificial turf over-budget

Council will also hear why a project that would see twinmulti-use, artificial turffields built at Chapples Park is nowon hold.

The city allocated $2.5 million in the 2017 budget fordesign and construction of the two fields. The expectation was that the city would contribute half of the necessary funding, while the rest would come from federal and provincial infrastructure grants.

However, the city found out in July that none of the available grants were applicable to the project. Compounding matters further, all the bids the city received for the project came in over-budget.

The city now has to wait until March 2018, when announcements about new funding possibilities are expected from the government. Until then, the project is on hold.

New radarspeed displays sought

Finally, council will hear about the need for new radar speed displays in the city.

Administration is recommending the displays beinstalled on Neebing Avenue between Walsh and Frederica streets,and in the Hudson/ArundelStreet area.

The purpose is to slow down traffic; vehicles along Arundel and Hudson, a report to council states, regularly travel 10 to 20 km/h over the posted speed limit.

NeebingAvenue, meanwhile, is a recommended site due to several factors, including the high density of housing and lack of controlled pedestrian crossings.

The cost of the displays, the city said, would be $31,000.