City to consider selling surplus land for infill, housing
CBC
Thunder Bay City Council will considering selling some of its surplus land, including parkland, for infill and development.
Councillors on Monday voted in favour of the resolution, which was brought forward by Coun. Kasey Etreni.
"The city has a large amount of city-owned land, some of which would be in the city's best interest to surplus and sell for the purpose of development," a memo from Etreni states. "Along with reducing the amount of city-owned land that might need operating or capital investment, such as parking lots, vacant land and parkland, this could help to boost infill and provide much-needed additional housing."
Etreni could not be reached for comment.
"Now is the time to begin preparing for the 2024 budget," the memo states. "I also appreciate that this process will take a substantial amount of time so now is the time to act."
The resolution doesn't call for the report to include valuations, but only provide an inventory and administration recommendations as to which properties would be in the city's best interest to sell.
Joel Depeuter, the city's director of development services, said the city does periodically catalog its surplus lands. However, that had not been done in some time.
"There's also some interest in looking at parking areas, and perhaps there are underutilized park areas that aren't part of the typical review," he said.
Depeuter said the city does have a number of surplus properties that could accommodate housing.
"Some of those are not quite ready to market, or they require some service extensions or some access extensions," he said. "Now is a good time to look at those."
Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds moved an amendment to remove parkland from the report, but that was voted down 8-5.
"I just think it's fundamentally wrong," he said regarding the city considering sale of parkland. "When we ask developers to develop subdivisions, we asked them for five per cent parkland, because we know that parks and parkettes are the glue for neighbourhoods."
"It's the meeting place for neighbourhoods," he said. "I think whether it's a new development or an established development, these parks serve a humongous social function."
Foulds said parkland can also assist with stormwater management in the city.
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