Thunder Bay council approves $100k sign for waterfront

Projects at Thunder Bay's waterfront that include lights and metal always seem to bring with them some controversy.

This time - it's not the hockey sticks with Morse code lights at the end of the marina's piers - it's a lit-up Thunder Bay sign.

"Earlier this year, there was snow day on the waterfront, and it demonstrated how powerful a permanent city word sign can be," said Karen Lewis, the Director of Corporate Strategic Services for the city.

She said about 7,000 people were at the special event in February, and most people had their pictures taken with an ice sculpture sign. That moment gave the anniversary committee the idea of making a permanent sign at the waterfront.

Pictures of the snow sculpture sign were shared about 12,000 times online, Lewis said.

"We need to be celebrating this city now more than ever," said Coun. Andrew Foulds, who voted in favour of the project.

"People are crying out to us to reopen, to do more, to be more normal. I challenge all of us to resist the mentality that we have to stop doing everything."

The sign was approved by council, in a 7-6 vote.

"We shouldn't use the (municipal accommodation tax) fund that we have for anything more than tourism-related products, because that's what we said we're going to use it for," said Coun. Shelby Ch'ng, who is on the city's anniversary committee.

"We're going to have a hotel association on us like that if we start filling potholes with that money," she added, when many others on council said the MAT fund could be used for other projects.

Others on council said they supported the idea, but did not want to pay $100,000 for the sign. Some said the money could be better used for other tourism projects, which were undetermined, while others wanted to use the funding to pay down any COVID-19 related costs.

"It still may not be the right time to be bringing it up, in light of all the stresses the community is under, and all the uncertainty they are under in regards to their finances," said Coun. Mark Bentz.

"Can we do this a little bit later? Of course we can. Is it prudent to be passing this tonight? Not in my opinion."

The debate got heated at times - with councillors calling each other out for supporting some other capital projects, mainly the indoor turf facility in recent weeks, with a price tag of $33 million, while then noting the city should not spend $100,000 on a sign.

There is no timeline on when the sign will be installed, or on its final design.

The anniversary committee will also determine if the sign should completely spell out 'Thunder Bay', or be shortened, depending on design, to 'T Bay.'