Thunder Bay city council prepares for turf sports building vote with special meeting

Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro wants to make sure his colleagues on city council are up to speed when they vote whether to move a proposed all-season turf sports facility forward later this month.

Mauro said he's organized a public, non-business meeting a few days prior to the vote, that will allow councillors to go over the current plans for the project and ask questions of administration.

The non-business meeting is scheduled for June 20, while council will vote on whether to approve the project in principle at its June 24 meeting.

"It's a big report, it's a big decision," Mauro said. "It's just putting in place one extra meeting to try and allow council to be better positioned on the 24th to make a decision."

• Thunder Bay sports organizations optimistic as proposed turf facility moves forward

Mauro said that while the meeting is public, members of the public won't be able to ask questions or provide input.

"I really do believe that people see this as a big priority for the city," Mauro said. "They understand that thousands of people will be able to utilize this facility, that it's 2019 and the climate we're in, we really should have something like this."

The June 20 meeting is scheduled from 46 p.m. in the McNaughton Room at city hall.

'Huge for everyone'

While the project isn't a reality yet, it's already getting strong support from community groups who plan to use the facility if and when it's constructed.

"It's huge for everyone,"Daniel Gilberds, vice-president of the Thunder Bay Touch Football League said of the proposed building. "For a city of 100,000-plus people, and has only nice weather for about three to four months, you'd think we'd have an indoor facility that can kind of operate at a high level for a lot of different sports and people, but we really don't."

The football league previously played at the Sports Dome, until that facility's collapse in November 2016, Gilberds said.

"For the last two seasons, we've been playing at the [Confederation College Bubble]," he said. "But now, the owner of that ... is closing it down, so we no longer have an indoor season going forward."

The Lakehead University Hangar isn't an option for winter play. The facility, Gilberds said, is crowded, and the only time slots available are late at night.

Happy with design

While some organizations have expressed a bit of concern over the size of the fields in the current proposed design of the new turf sports facility, Gilberds said it will work for touch football, especially since the league phased out punting in the post-Sports Dome days.

"We got rid of punting when we played the last two years at the college dome, just because the roof was a little low, it would hit some lights sometimes," he said. "We just declare a punt."

Gilberds said he's happy with what he's seen of the proposed facility's design so far.

"The field length is suitable for us, we can work with it," he said. "We're fine with what's being proposed."