Four Mile Lake Road extension scrutinized during budget talks

A multi-million dollar road extension linking the Airport Industrial Park to Highway 11 North has caught the eye of Coun. Bill Vrebosch in recent City of North Bay budget deliberations.

During the budget session, Vrebosch sought to clarify the City of North Bay's role in building the proposed five-kilometre extension of Four Mile Lake Road from Carmichael Drive to the north highway via Marsh Drive — with an estimated future budget cost of $11.8 million. He also asked about a budget item moved up from 2024 and inserted as a line in the 2021 budget for $620,000 toward the planning and design of the project, scheduled for construction in 2027.

"Basically, it's going to be another maintained road by the City of North Bay and we're opening it up for industrial properties — but in private hands. So, we're going to be creating a road for private developers to go in and sell their properties," said Vrebosch.

City Engineer John Severino observed, "It's all about putting together the right package and having a private proponent that's going to bring jobs. That would be predicated on being able to have somebody that's going to put something in that park." 

Vrebosch continued, "This is another project, to me, I've got to know how long it is and how much is this thing going to cost when it's all over?"

Senior Capital Program Engineer Adam Lacombe joined the meeting and confirmed the price tag for the extension as $11.8 million to build the extension to the highway plus fix up the existing road. He added it would be built to a rural standard, with a hard surface and ditches on both sides.

The City of North Bay's capital forecast for 2022-30 describes the project as involving the engineering and construction services for the "new rural roadway...to be constructed as a truck route to service existing industrial properties and new industrial developments in the airport area."

Beverley Hillier, Manager of Planning & Building Services shared there is the possibility for the "activation of a little over 300 acres of private industrial land. On the public side, it's a little over 500 acres of industrial land over the build-out of the northwest side of the airport."

See related story: Airport Industrial Park becoming a popular business destination

The initial planning and design work will be done in-house by the City's Engineering Department and will include an Environmental Assessment (EA), preliminary and detailed design, agency approvals, contract drawings, specifications, tendering and construction technical assistance.

Severino spoke more than once during the meeting of the desire to reduce heavy truck traffic on Airport Road. 

According to the notes accompanying the budget forecast, "The project would also address some safety concerns. Truck traffic to Highway 11/17 is currently serviced by Airport Road and O'Brien Street. Thibeault Hill on Highway 11 has a truck arrestor bed and Airport Hill does not. Removing truck traffic from Airport Hill and redirecting it to Thibeault Hill would reduce the risk of runaway trucks. Re-routing truck traffic would also extend the life of Airport Road and O'Brien Street between Airport Road and Highway 11/17."

City staff noted the goal is to remain flexible when it comes to developing industrial land.

Severino said the Four Mile Lake Road extension "opens up different access to the development taking place on the northwest side of the runway," adding the City would seek to secure NOHFC and FedNor funding for what's considered an essential component of the Airport Industrial Park expansion. 

See also: The sky is the limit for North Bay's new Steel Galvanizing plant

And: Big financial boost for new local meat processing plant

Staff identified four other under-serviced focus areas for development: Birchs Road, the former Nordfibre property across from the North Bay Regional Health Centre, Cedar Heights, and Main Street West.

Ian Kilgour, Director of Community Development and Growth called it a balance between managing the municipal side of industrial park expansion while being mindful of the private landowners in the area. 

There will also be a special charge and infrastructure study, to be undertaken in the coming year, he said. This will help set the contribution private developers would make to the extension of services, similar to the model the City has used for development on Pinewood Park Drive.

Budget Chief Tanya Vrebosch moved on to address other items and suggested staff would come back with more details for more fulsome discussions on the Four Mile Lake Road project, Community and Recreation Centre, and Cassellholme projects when budget talks resume, Thursday.