THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay looks set to add another new hotel, this one near the airport, as city council will consider recommended zoning amendments to allow the project to proceed on Monday.
The six-storey, 90-room hotel would be located directly east of the Hampton Inn on Arthur Street West. The development is proposed by the same owner, and would be located partially on the Hampton Inn’s existing property. It would be the seventh hotel located along a roughly one-kilometre stretch of Arthur Street West near the airport.
The project requires council to amend current zoning restrictions. That includes increasing the maximum building height from 12 to 21.7 metres and reducing requirements for parking capacity. Along with the existing Hampton Inn, the new hotel would bring the total number of hotel rooms on the site to 194.
City administration says the planned 134 parking spaces would be enough to support the two hotels, although current zoning by-laws would require 217. The plan would allow for overflow parking at nearby 790 Arthur Street West, a former gas bar, if necessary.
The proposed parking reductions sparked concerns from two area residents who wrote letters to the city. They raised worries that hotel customers would use nearby on-street parking. However, the city’s development services says a parking study completed by an engineer, as well as their own analysis, show the number of spots will be sufficient.
The owner is also seeking a number of slight reductions to zoning requirements to make room for the new development. Those include trimming minimum size of parking spaces and aisles, the rear yard, and landscape strip.
City council will consider the requested zoning amendments at a meeting Monday evening.
