Duane Hicks
The public will be able to get a look at designs for the future Rainy Lake Market Square here sometime next month.
“We’re now very close to having preliminary drawings. Very, very close,” Chief Building Official Travis Rob told the Times.
“What will happen once we get those drawings is they will be reviewed by the committee,” he noted.
“Once the committee has had an opportunity to look at the design, ask questions, get any clarifications, make corrections, or whatever, we’ll be ready to do a big public reveal,” Rob added.
The preliminary drawings will presented at a public event in May.
One possible idea is to have the unveiling right at the future site of the market square to give people the opportunity to see what the space looks like and what, after looking at the drawings, it potentially could look like, Rob said.
“We’re looking forward to that,” he remarked. “That should be good.”
According to the project’s timeline, Winnipeg-based architecture firm Scatliff + Miller + Murray will have tender-ready construction drawings set to go by the end of June.
The town then will tender a contractor to build the market square, with the intent to begin construction in late summer.
An open house to solicit input from the public was held in mid-February and attended by about 60 people.
After that, the Rainy Lake Market Square Committee reviewed the feedback received at that event and asked the architects questions.
Rob said the committee took the input provided by the public and specific stakeholders and given it to Scatliff + Miller + Murray to come up with preliminary drawings.
After all, they’re the experts.
“At the end of the day, we impart the idea on the architect and they take that and do what they’re going to do,” Rob explained.
“They’re going to be come back and walk us through a preliminary design.
“I’m really looking forward to that,” added Rob.
“In terms of design details, even if you wanted to know, I haven’t seen a thing,” he stressed.
“[But] we’re getting very, very close, and I’m getting pretty excited to see what they’ve come up with.”
The Rainy Lake Market Square Committee includes Charleen Mallory and John McTaggart (Economic Development Advisory Committee), Scott Krienke-Turvey and Dan Cousineau (Shops on Scott-BIA), Jenny Greenhalgh and Mark Caron (Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce), and Kim Cornell (Clover Valley Farmers’ Market).
Rounding out the committee are Mayor Roy Avis, Couns. June Caul and Ken Perry, Geoff Gillon and Tannis Drysdale (Rainy River Future Development Corp.), Jane Gillon (Ministry of Northern Development and Mines), and resource persons Sherry George and Nathalie Donaldson.
