Isabel Mosseler
Tribune
The Municipality of West Nipissing’s Land Use and Development Strategy for the former mill site received two prizes at the Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) Awards of Excellence on February 8. The Strategy earned a Planning & Strategic Development Rural Award as well as the most esteemed prize of the night, the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for outstanding effort in economic development, presented by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario herself, the Honourable Edith Dumont.
The strategy, developed by consultants from Re:public Urbanism, outlines a vision and plan for the former pulp and paper mill site located along Highway 17 in Sturgeon Falls. It offers solutions centered around housing, greenspace, retail, and highway-commercial business.
During the February 20 WN Council meeting, the strategy was on the agenda with an update by Director of Economic Development Stephan Poulin, and council took the opportunity to highlight the awards.
“The Lieutenant Governor’s Award is reserved for the project that has the most significant impact in Ontario. It’s basically the best-in-show for this conference of economic development. (…) We were extremely pleased to hear the news. (…) It shows the work that was put in, not only by the staff of the municipality, but the foresight of the Economic Development Advisory Committee and the previous Council in moving forward on this project (…) Robust public consultation was a huge important factor for this project as well,” lauded mayor Kathleen Thorne Rochon.
Poulin agreed, saying “We checked a lot of boxes in the sense that we’re going to create some green space; [address some of the] housing crisis on that property, and future retail commercial.”
Giving an update on timelines, Poulin told council that the completion of phase one, an environmental site assessment, is scheduled for April 2024, and the phase two assessment, further environmental exploration, is planned for February 2025. Property surveying is in progress, including some land allocation for West Nipissing Power Generation. Of course, it will be quite some time before we see shovels in the ground for construction, but it’s a long-term strategy with long-term benefits, Poulin pointed out. “It’s a project that’s going to impact this community for decades to come (…) [There’s] a lot of work involved.”
There were questions raised by Coun. Anne Tessier concerning any past soil testing by previous councils. CAO Jay Barbeau provided some historical perspective. “I was here when we did the transfer of the power plant (…) The quick answer is no. There wasn’t a soil sample. Weyerhaeuser themselves conducted a Phase 1… a paper study and analytical study looking at records … that would determine whether a phase two is necessary… The debate that was being held for the last 15 years was that Weyerhaeuser would not be releasing that land with that kind of information. We were then spending the last 10 to 15 years working with individuals that had historical knowledge of how the site was used, what could be there, to see what kind of liability we did have. …They [presumably Weyerhaeuser] did confidentially leave their phase one document with us and that formed part of the past Council’s decision… to move forward with [the purchase]. Now we’re at the stage where we are renewing the phase one information, and as Mr. Poulin indicated, that will likely lead to phase 2, which will involve taking soil samples. If you know the history of that place…there wasn’t really a lot of use on that land that you see. There wasn’t a lot of use there in terms of environmental that we can tell. … All of our information is anecdotal, but we felt comfortable enough with the risk. We also spoke with the City of North Bay on their rail lands redevelopment, had a lot of advice on the brownfield redevelopment, so we are fairly comfortable with our strategies going forward.”
The strategy emphasizes the use of land for maximum community benefit, including parkland, affordable housing and commercial ventures. Some of the land will be transferred over to West Nipissing Power Generation so they can retain delivery access to their facility. Barbeau told council, “It isn’t that Power Gen is looking at future expansion. …It’s just to ensure that they can do the work… The garage at the bottom of the power plant needs to have access. Instead of going all the way around that vacant field, there’ll be a direct line straight to Front Street.”
