Thunder Bay, Ont., needs more housing — but residents question where it should be built

Charles Snell says he recognizes the need for more housing to be built in Thunder Bay, Ont., but that it shouldn’t come at the cost of losing green space.

Snell, who lives in the Red River ward, is among about two dozen people who participated in a protest on Thursday against a potential apartment complex, which could see up to 400 units in two buildings between Junot Avenue and John Street.

“We need more housing,” Snell said. “But 400 units all emptying out into Picton Avenue, it's a little excessive for traffic and for density, I think, and there are other options, too, within the city.”

The property in question, located at 300 Tokio St., is one of four vacant lands the city is considering selling off as surplus to allow for new residential development. The other proposals include:

The properties were identified through a call for proposals. The city assessed more than a dozen submissions and narrowed them down to four leading proposals, which “demonstrate creativity, quality, and a commitment to building a city that is more vibrant, connected, and ready for growth,” the city’s website says.

City council is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to declare the lands as surplus, which would allow the proposals to move forward through the approval process.

Rod Seabrook, who organized Thursday’s protest with his wife, says he’d rather see the city focus on redeveloping the downtown cores.

The main concerns he and his neighbours have with developing 300 Tokio St. are the number of units and what this would mean for traffic flow, loss of sunlight at adjacent properties, and the area’s green space.

“Once this is gone, it's gone for good,” said Seabrook, pointing at the wooded area behind the protestors. “That would be a tragedy, and that would still leave all those areas downtown yet to be redeveloped.”

Joel DePeuter, the city’s director of development services, said the city is facing a shortage of 1,000 housing units for individuals and families.

“The price of housing has been increasing all across the country, and in Thunder Bay, our pricing may be lower than elsewhere but we do risk our housing becoming less affordable,” he said.

“We need to build more housing quickly, specifically larger multi-residential projects, if we are going to make a large, sudden change.”

Thunder Bay has separate provincial and federal housing targets in order to maintain and secure funding: 

If the aforementioned properties are declared as surplus, the next steps would be for the city to negotiate their sale before working through various approvals to allow for their construction, DePeuter explained.