Duane Hicks
With Phase II of the so-called biomass roads project set to go this spring, which will see the water and sewer infrastructure replaced and Portage Avenue rebuilt from First Street to Third Street East and Fifth Street to Sixth Street, some residents are wondering if their sidewalk is in jeopardy of being removed.
During its next regular meeting being held Monday morning, town council will receive a request from resident Randy House regarding the status of the sidewalk on the east side of the 900 block of Portage Avenue.
During a public meeting held last April to outline the two-year biomass roads project, part of the plans proposed that the sidewalk be removed on the east side of Portage Avenue from Second Street to Third Street and Fifth Street to Sixth Street.
The sidewalk on the west side of Portage would be left to link up with the new walkway under the subway.
In his letter, House recalled that at the public meeting, property owners and other concerned residents made it clear they wanted their sidewalk to remain.
At that time, Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said that if the public felt so strongly about it, the contract could be changed, at council’s discretion, to delete the sidewalk removal.
House said he spoke with Brown on Jan. 14 regarding the status of the sidewalk, with Brown saying the removal of the sidewalk still was part of the construction contract.
House is asking that the town provide the property owners on the east side of the 900 block of Portage Avenue with a written status update regarding the matter.
The public portion of Monday’s meeting is scheduled to start at 10:35 a.m. The committee of the whole will meet first in-camera starting at 10 a.m.
The meeting is being held in the morning instead of the evening because several members of council are travelling to Thunder Bay that afternoon for a training session, which continues Tuesday and Wednesday.
Other business at Monday morning’s meeting will include:
•a POA write-off request;
•a report on iCompass Technologies Inc. suite of services;
•a request for endorsement of the operation plan for the drinking water quality management system;
•a police services activity report from OPP detachment commander Insp. John Kendrick;
•a request from the Ontario Task Group on Affordable Access to Recreation re: endorsement for the policy framework of affordable recreation for Ontarians;
•a request from Union Gas for an easement on municipally-owned property near the intersection of Highway 11/71 and Colonization Road West;
•a request from J. Webb & Sons Inc. for purchase of the laneway between McKenzie and Portage Avenues, and the purchase of a small portion of land adjacent to 835 McKenzie Ave.;
•a series of requests from the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship Inc. for support of this year’s tournament (July 18-24);
•a bylaw to approve an amendment to a licence agreement with Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. for access to web services;
•a bylaw to authorize the entering into of certain contracts with respect to janitorial services;
•a bylaw to approve an agreement with Hynde Paul Planners, a division of Quartek Group Inc., for services with respect to the updating of the Fort Frances official plan and zoning bylaw;
•a tug-of-war challenge from International Falls tentatively scheduled for June 4; and
•a request from the Fort Frances Lakers re: the use of previously-allocated grant monies.
