A North Bay man wants to turn the SAGE complex into a tourist destination.
Trevor Schindler says he'll present the idea to City Council tomorrow night.
"Briefly, I am proposing that the City of North Bay mount a campaign directed at the Government of Canada to have the Underground NORAD Complex redeveloped into a tourist destination as a federal museum or a national historic site," says Schindler.
He presented a similar proposal to City Council back in October of 2011 and council passed a resolution in support of the proposal.
"Following that, I spent over a year communicating with federal politicians and agencies promoting the idea. While virtually everyone expressed support for the idea, nothing came of my efforts. I realize now that it was unrealistic to think that by just informing the government about a development opportunity, that it would act upon it. As you know, and I have learned, government doesn’t work that way. It will take concerted political pressure to get the government to take action."
Developing the Underground NORAD Complex into a tourist destination is still a good idea, explains Schindler but it will only happen if the City of North Bay makes it happen.
He has a list of items he plans to ask City Council for:
- Pass a resolution directing city staff to campaign towards the goal of having the Underground NORAD Complex developed by the Government of Canada into a tourist destination as a federal museum or a national historic site.
- Pass a resolution calling upon the Government of Canada to commission a study to determine the feasibility of developing the Underground NORAD Complex into a tourist destination as a federal museum or a national historic site.
- Encourage other partners and stakeholders to support this campaign.
"I think that getting the federal government to commission a feasibility study is a realistic short-term goal," he explains. "Moreover, it would cost the City of North Bay very little to pursue this goal beyond the allocation of human resources."