Community plan to move forward

Although the town still needs final approval from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, council passed bylaws during Monday night’s regular meeting to adopt the Community Improvement Plan and designate project areas here.
“We’ll let the project move ahead and lay the groundwork out, and then fill in the blanks,” said Mayor Glenn Witherspoon, referring to the fact the financial incentive plan portion of the document had been finalized.
Municipal planner Faye Flatt , who prepared the plan along with economic development officer Geoff Gillon, told council it had been tweaked since they last saw it in October as the ministry suggested a few clarifications.
Flatt noted passing a resolution to move the plan forward to the ministry was a necessary step to make the plan “a reality” at this point in time, and that the details of the incentive plan currently were being worked out by town treasurer Diane Pearson.
Council also received a request from the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce regarding the incentive plan and referred it to the Administration and Finance executive committee for a recommendation.
In a letter to council, president Alan Tibbetts said the Chamber believes “that having a clearly-defined incentive package will not only encourage new businesses to locate within the municipality, but it will also encourage expansion within our existing community.”
But he added, “With the incentive package largely undefined, we are concerned that council may, or at some point in the future, enact an incentive that may have a negative impact on one or more of our members.
“Therefore, we are requesting that if council chooses to proceed with the CIP and approves it in its existing incomplete format, that the related bylaw include a commitment requiring a public meeting before each incentive becomes town policy,” Tibbetts wrote.
The plan outlines the areas where council and the various municipal departments feel the town needs to be improved, whether that be simply by planting more tress here or improving telecommunications.
Other details include dividing up the town into three zones (or designated project areas), including:
•The resources development area, which stretches along the CNR railway to Eighth Street, then west to the boundary line between the town and the Township of Alberton.
This area would see development of infrastructure such as sewer and water, as well as possibly a truck route either along or north of Eighth Street to access McIrvine Road;
•The mid-town industrial area—a 400 hectare piece from Highway 11/71 to roughly 200 metres west of McIrvine Road (the area lying south of Eighth Street and north of the CNR railway and east of the municipal boundary between the town and Township of Alberton).
This area would be used to further develop the industrial park; and
•The downtown core and waterfront area, which stretches from about 200 metres west of McIrvine Road to 100 metres north of Highway 11/71, taking in the entire south part of the town.
Besides the continued work on the waterfront, the focus on this area would be to revitalize existing structures and re-develop other parts to draw more businesses (e.g., the old high school on First Street East).
Flatt noted the point of such a plan is not only to outline objectives for community improvements, but to make that clear to the provincial government—and hopefully facilitating funding support for said improvements.
“Once the ministry approves the Community Improvement Plan, it shows that the town would like to do additional waterfront work or expand the industrial sector.
“When there’s an announcement the province has this much to give out for a certain type of project, it makes it easier to get that funding if we have this in place,” Flatt said.
Once the ministry returns the plan to the town with its seal of approval, it will come into effect.
Copies of the plan and the two bylaws are available at Flatt’s office at the
Civic Centre. The last community improvement plan was devised in 1991.