Golf course concerns, waterfront trail on Thunder Bay council agendas this week

A group of golfers is worried about a recommendation from the city's program services review, that suggests one public golf course could be shuttered.

The Committee to Keep Golf Public in Thunder Bay will tell council on Wednesday night why the two courses, Chapples and Strathcona, should remain public.

Chapples and its associated parklands falls under an agreement, that the site would remain a park, said Jake O'Neill, a member of the committee. But, the group's concern is the city could more easily divest itself of Strathcona.

"In terms of Strathcona, what we're hoping for is that the city doesn't go down the road of sell the public land, and create a housing development or anything along the lines of that," he said.

"It's our mission to keep it public, and keep it a public park."

O'Neill said the two city courses had over 58,000 rounds played in 2020, an increase of ten percent.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic proved the need for public golf facilities for the mental and physical health of players, which are men, women, juniors and seniors.

The golf group is the only current organization on the agenda for the Wednesday meeting, which will focus on implementation of the program and service review.

Waterfront trail

City councillors will hear on Monday about three possible ways to develop a portion of the proposed waterfront trail.

The trail would run close to the Lake Superior shoreline, from Fisherman's Park to Mission Marsh Conservation Area.

None of the three possibilities for construction are included in the 2021 budget.

One trail opportunity runs from Prince Arthur's Landing, running along North Water Street. The roadway, which has minimal traffic, would add 2 km to the trail, and require about $20,000 in signage. At the north end of this section, a lookout onto Lake Superior would also be constructed.

The second proposed section is in the East End, near the entrance to Keefer Terminal, and ending at the Island Drive bridge, for a length of 700 metres.

This is a "stranded section" of trail, but construction would be integrated into the resurfacing of the roadway, which would be widened by three metres to accommodate the trail, which would connect at the Neebing-McIntyre floodway. This section would cost $350,000 to construct.

The final proposed section is on Mission Island, running along 105th and 106th street, is 2.1 km in length, and would require only signs due to the low volume of traffic in the area.

Signs in the area would cost $20,000, but administration said there is an opportunity to construct a separated trail in a city right of way, at $155,000.

To have the trail connected to Prince Arthur's Landing from the south, the city still needs to undertake land negotiations for an area south of Pool 6 to Maureen Street.

Much of the area is the former Northern Wood Preservers site. Administration recommended starting negotiations with landowners to secure a route for the trail, or at the minimum, a lease for the trail.

The results of those negotiations would be brought to council, to determine how to proceed.