In the last six months, City of Thunder Bay’s administration has restructured and begun developing what city manager John Collin calls the Smart Growth Action Plan.
The first draft of the plan was presented to city council and the general public at city hall on Monday.
Matthew Pearson, the city’s senior advisor for growth, said they will present the problem as to why an action plan is needed and the next steps. He said the goal is to present and release a 10-year action plan to city council this fall.
It will be released alongside the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission’s (CEDC) strategic plan, so that the community can see that although the two organizations are close, they are different and can support each other and support growth.
“The Thunder Bay CEDC’s Growth Assessment and Strategy is designed to complement and strengthen the City of Thunder Bay’s Growth Action Plan by identifying actionable opportunities to attract new investment and support business expansion,” said Jamie Taylor, chief executive officer of the CEDC.
“While the City focuses on creating a more development-ready and business-friendly environment through planning, infrastructure, and policy alignment, the CEDC is advancing efforts to market Thunder Bay’s unique value proposition, engage with investors, and position the community as a destination for sustainable economic growth.”
Pearson explained that Thunder Bay hasn’t grown over the last two census periods and is the second slowest growing municipality in Canada.
“Costs continue to rise, and inflation continues to happen. Looking backwards over the last 10 years, inflation has risen cumulatively around 32 per cent but our growth has only been 7.8 per cent,” said Pearson, adding the community is painting itself in a corner if the lack of growth isn’t addressed.
This is why the Smart Growth Action plan began. Pearson says that although the plan is being organized by the City, it is a community-based plan.
“To inform this plan, we created a task force and selected 25 individuals, including the CEOs of the hospital, the university and Science North, various economic development organizations, as well as individual experts in economics and urban development,” he said.
He said they have knowledge on growing a city, and meet monthly to help develop and inform the plan.
Pearson pointed out that the timing is perfect for consultations with industry leaders because Thunder Bay has experienced a renewal of leadership positions.
“Whether you’re looking at the university, the utilities, Tbaytel, the airport, there’s a lot of new leadership, some of which is new to Thunder Bay, and some of which has come up through the organization,” he said. There is a renewed energy in town to re-examine things that we had trouble with doing before.”
Some highlights of draft plan
Lengthy highlights in the plan’s draft include an expanded supply of commercial and industrial lands that are easily discoverable for investors and corporations looking to move to Thunder Bay.
“We need to make sure that we have lots of opportunities in the housing market, so we’re addressing that for when people come here and are looking to relocate their family, they have places to live,” he said.
“We have to make sure we’re focused on infill, because make no mistake, when we talk about a growth plan, we’re talking about tax base assessment growth, and that’s the number one way the city gets revenue to deliver the services.”
In order to do that, Pearson said the population needs to grow, which hinges on employment opportunities. Those are the three things being focused on in the plan.
“Generally, the plan is aiming to have a three per cent annual tax base growth, because we believe that inflation is probably going to fall between two to 2.5 per cent and that gives us a bit of a buffer so that we’re staying slightly ahead of inflation,” he said.
“The city will host two town hall meetings to share details of the plan and receive feedback and questions. The meetings will take place at the Mary J.L. Black Library on June 25, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., and at the Oliver Road Community Centre on June 26 from 5:30 -7:30 p.m.
