The final decision for the future of King’s Landing will be put off for another couple of weeks, as community services chairman Coun. Mark King said he would like to leave both it, and the Downtown Waterfront Master Plan on committee after Wednesday night’s presentations and meeting.
“There is nothing wrong with leaving it on committee, for a couple weeks,” King said. “We have a cooling off period where the public has an opportunity to speak on these issues. A lot of people were asking me here tonight if it’s possible to have some kind of Town Hall meeting.”
The bulk of the concerns heard by members of council mirrored that of members of the community in the Open House held an hour prior to the committee meeting, which were concerns of the high price tag associated with the preferred alternative.
This alternative, the fourth presented during the public consultation session held in December 2016, would replace King’s Landing Wharf with a naturalized wave break and a scenic path, while also moving the pier and Chief Commanda II dock to the other side of the area.
While this alternative was the most popular within the department at the city, residents who had a chance to see the plan were weary of the cost associated with it...an estimated $9 to $14 million to build, as well as between $180,000 to $210,000 a year to maintain, according to the consultant's report.
However, King was not entirely pleased with the alternative, considering the price tag and the effect it would have on what he referred to as an item of heritage in the city of North Bay.
“I’m going to be honest, alternative four doesn’t make sense to me,” King said with disappointment. “It’s far too expensive—just way too much money—I can’t see the economic sense in moving the Chief over to the gas dock. It just doesn’t make sense in my mind.”
For him, alternative two, which sees only the repair of the existing wharf, would consist of the replacement of the foundations, adding to the rock breakwater adjacent to the wharf, repair to the existing decking and wood boardwalk west of the sheet piling and concrete dock of the wharf. This option would cost the city between $3 and $7 million, considering many of the costs and the extent of repairs remains largely unknown.
“I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the condition of the dock and talking to the consultants who were involved with it and I know where the problems are and I know it’s not that big of a fix,” he said. “If council sees it this way, we may come back with a motion that would ask council for direction for staff to look at repair costs, specifically for that 700 meters of the dock.”
Before the presentation of King’s Landing’s proposed future, council heard a detailed presentation for the Downtown Waterfront Master Plan, and although both consultation projects were different, there was a bit of consideration in ensuring both followed a similar route of vision.
King found, however, that deciding simply to repair the existing wharf would not hamper that vision of the downtown and waterfront, and if anything, enhancing it.
“The dock is something a heritage piece,” King said. “You want to talk about the Dionne home, that dock as been there as long as I’ve been alive and the fact that we’d move it or change it in my mind doesn’t make sense.”
