THUNDER BAY – Current River residents voiced their concern Wednesday evening regarding some blasting that is planned to make room for a new affordable housing project on the corner of Huron and Hudson Avenues.
Meeting organizer Rob Joblin told Dougall Media, “Nobody has come around or told us.”
According to Joblin, the residents at the meeting found out about the blasting through the news.
The general contractors, RJ Concrete and Construction, said they are confident the blasting company, Castonguay, can do the job safely and with minimal disturbance to the neighbourhood.
Residents at the meeting wanted to talk about not just the construction work, but the affordable housing project itself. A multi-phase plan is proposed for the site, with two 12-unit buildings going up first.
Joblin said residents expressed worries about the impact the new housing might have for the kids that attend nearby Vance Chapman Public School and for neighbourhood property values.
He said that the new affordable housing units are going to have “a significant impact on the neighbourhood.”
“It's gonna change the dynamics of the neighbourhood. I mean, when you're bringing in 72 units, that's quite a few influxes of people into the neighbourhood. And, it's affordable housing and people are concerned about obviously what that brings,” said Joblin.
Current River Ward coun. Andrew Foulds also attended the meeting to hear from his constituents and try to help them understand the process.
"This has been a theme for my last two ward meetings. And that's part of my job is when people ask me questions, I feel it's my responsibility to get good information to them," said Foulds.
He said, “Thunder Bay certainly needs more housing. We are in a housing crisis. I think that there could be a lot of debate on where that housing should be located and that's fair.”
“This particular piece of property is zoned properly and, the developer is following the rules and I hope that they continue to follow the rules,” said Foulds.
