The town will have an overall picture of future projects officially in place as the most recent Community Improvement Plan is to be passed as a bylaw at tonight’s council meeting.
The plan, which was first brought before council in late October, only has been slightly adjusted after receiving input from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, municipal planner Faye Flatt said this morning.
“The wording’s been cleaned up a bit, particularly pertaining to issues of continuity. And there were a few typos,” she remarked.
The plan, which is available at the Civic Centre, outlines the areas where council and the various municipal departments feel the town needs to be improved, whether that be simply planting more tress or developing a truck route either along or north of Eighth Street to access McIrvine Road.
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, 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.
Flatt noted an important aspect of the plan—a financial incentive plan that would facilitate the attracting of new businesses and growth in existing ones—is included in the document but won’t be implemented immediately.
“There were a lot of programs that were included in the incentive plan, and in the improvement plan for that matter,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean all of them are going to be implemented.
“Three programs have been picked out, the specifics of which will be determined. We’ll then need to finalize the wording and bring them before council,” she added.
Council also will receive recommendations from the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce regarding the development of the Community Improvement Plan at tonight’s meeting.
The last community improvement plan was devised in 1991.
Tonight’s meeting starts at 6:35 p.m. at the Civic Centre. The committee of the whole will meet first downstairs at 5:30.
Other business at tonight’s meeting will include a notice of a levy increase from the Northwestern Health Unit for 2003.
There also will be a verbal report from John Albanese, chair of the Northwestern Health Unit, and municipal rep Bill Martin on various health unit matters;
And there will be a presentation by teacher Dana Kosowick’s Grade 6 class from Robert Moore School called “If you are not from the Fort.”
This presentation was put together in response to the Centennial Celebration Advisory Committee’s invitation for school participation in 2003 activities.
Also on the agenda tonight includes:
•a resolution brought forward from Mark McCaig, president and CEO of the Fort Frances Power Corp., that the FFPC continued to be incorporated as a Business Corporations Act company as provided in subsection 142 (1) of the Electricity Act, 1998;
•a request from the Heart and Stroke Foundation to proclaim February as “Heart Month” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•a request from resident Sue Fletcher to reduce speed limits on the 500 block of Second Street East;
•a concern regarding speeding traffic on Sixth Street West between Portage Avenue and McIrvine Road;
•bylaws to fix remuneration and benefits for elected councillors, and approve the purchase of licensing agreements documents with various suppliers of computer hardware and software;
•break-open ticket licence applications for the Muskie Blue Line Club at Sparky’s Confectionary and for the Rainbow Rhythmics Club at We-R-Entertainment;
•a request for financial assistance for the 13th-annual Chief Fire Officers Conference coming up Sept. 18-21 in Thunder Bay;
•a request from the Chamber of Commerce regarding the inclusion of a sprinkler system for the ’52 Canadians Arena in the 2003 or 2004 budget;
•a request from the Canadian Cancer Society to proclaim April “Cancer Month” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•a request from the Rainy River Future Development Corp. regarding the support of the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce “Grow Bonds North” initiative;
•a request for financial support from the Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion Foundation;
•a request from Riverside Health Care Facilities Inc. regarding purchase of lots 65 and 65 (Sinclair Avenue boulevard) for a parking lot;
•a request from Pitch-In Ontario for partnership support of Pitch-In Canada Week on April 21-27; and
•a request from the Borderland Thunder to designate the Dudley Hewitt Cup as a special event to allow their team to access exclusive concession rights and revenues for the duration of the tournament.
Fort Frances Times
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