Duane Hicks
Whether or not the lookout tower should be part of Phase II of the Heritage Tourism Project this summer will be decided by town council at its next regular meeting April 13 after the matter was debated this past Monday evening.
Council received a recommendation to award the tender for the relocation and refurbishment of the Hallett and lookout tower to Tom Jones Construction for about $1.1 million at Monday’s budget meeting.
This is part of the $1.4-million Phase II of the Heritage Tourism Project also will include signage, interpretive panels, and wayfinding connecting the downtown core to La Verendrye Parkway (Front Street).
The town’s share of the project is about $273,000, with the rest being paid for through federal and provincial grants and local partners (i.e., the BIA and Chamber of Commerce).
According to the plans, the lookout tower is to be placed to the east of the Sorting Gap Marina, fixed up, and re-opened so visitors once again can climb its stairs and get a bird’s eye view of the river and surrounding area.
The Hallett, meanwhile, will be moved into the upper Rainy River to the west of the boat launch.
While most members of council supported the project in principle as a means of boosting tourism here, including relocating the Hallett, a few had harsh words regarding it, specifically the fate of the lookout tower.
Coun. John Albanese said the town would be better off spending its money to fix roads.
“The way I see it, it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money . . . the [lookout] tower should be put in a scrap yard.
“The Hallett, okay,” he added. “But a project like this—I could sell tickets at the bridge for the roller-coaster of the streets of Fort Frances.
“The shape of our streets are [terrible], and we are going to go an invest money in a big project like this?” Coun. Albanese asked. “I think it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
Mayor Roy Avis said the lookout tower should have dynamite attached to its four corners and be sent up into the sky along with the July 1 fireworks.
Coun. Ken Perry said the Hallett has historical significance to the area, but the tower does not, adding he read an article in the Winnipeg Free Press last summer which indicated some area tourist operators did not even know the tower had been closed to visitors and the old fort torn down.
“The tower is not being used by tourists . . . no one wants to climb 100 feet in the air to look out the top of the tower as a tourist attraction,” Coun. Perry noted, adding small children might want to but will have to have their parents with them, who might not want to.
“The boat [Hallett] is significant to this area and I think we should save it. The tower should come down, yes, but not be re-erected,” he argued.
But Community Services manager George Bell said the tower always has been the most popular component of tourism here, in the past drawing five-10 people for every one person who went to other sites.
“It is the draw, and history will tell you that,” he stressed. “People want go up there and look from the top.”
The tower was closed to visitors back in 2002 after the stairwell no longer was deemed to be safe. The stairwell will be brought up to code when it is moved and refurbished.
Bell noted the tower, as well as the Shevlin wood yard, also ties into the history of forestry here, is an educational component of the Heritage Tourism Project, and the subject of interpretive panels along the waterfront.
Bell also reminded council they were the ones who wanted to proceed with the Heritage Tourism plan, and as directed, he sought out and attained funding for the projects.
“Tourism and the development of tourism infrastructure is very much seen as a strategic initiative to help increase the economic activity of our community, and specifically downtown,” he remarked.
“I guess the question to council is, what is your strategy for downtown? What is your economic development strategy to diversify the economy other than just the paper mill, which we know is going downhill and downhill fast?”
Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft said he felt the tower should remain part of the plan–and even felt tourists would pay a dollar or two to go up it.
“The waterfront needs something to attract them there other than ice cream cones,” he argued. “The boat [Hallett] has significance, we need the boat, but I believe people will go down and climb the tower, to look into the United States of America, to look across the town.
“We have to look at economic development other than small industry and large industry,” Coun. Wiedenhoeft stressed. “We really have to expand our scope with economic development and I think this is part of it.”
“The whole heritage development and the waterfront is really significant . . . I think we’re going to attract more people with this waterfront development,” agreed Coun. Andrew Hallikas.
“I think a lot of people are going to look at the Hallett. And I think when people are down there, they will climb [the tower],” he added. “George [Bell] already alluded to the fact it was being climbed when it was open—at a significant rate—and I think moving it, you will see even more people climbing it.
“I am in favour of keeping the tower. I think it adds to the waterfront and I think it adds to our tourism draw.”
Coun. Paul Ryan also supported the project, calling it an opportunity to use government funds to move assets—the Hallett and lookout tower—from land which continues to be in dispute to the waterfront for the benefit of the town.
Even if the town doesn’t move them now, they may have to in the future—and it will cost them.
He also noted the tower might not look good now, but will once it is refurbished.
Front Street resident Bill Martin, who as in attendance at the budget meeting, said he agreed the town should develop tourist attractions as an economic resource.
As far as location, he would like to see the town and local First Nations come to an agreement regarding the land at Pither’s Point and further develop the current site of the Hallett and lookout tower as a tourist destination.
While Martin had come before council in recent months with concerns regarding the proposed location of the Hallett and its proximity to pulp truck traffic leaving the Shevlin wood yard, Bell informed council that the town met with AbitibiBowater and area truckers to talk about the safety issue.
As a result, the town will be putting in a proper turning radius and a stop sign coming off the Abitibi property so trucks leaving the wood yard will not have to go into the left-hand lane to make a turn.
As well, the landscaping near the Hallett will be designed so that tourists visiting the site will not have access to the road.
