OLIVER PAIPOONGE — A proposal to erect a permanent shelter over two historic Brill trolley buses at the Oliver Paipoonge Heritage Park has won the support of the municipal council.
But Mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis said council has told the proponents – Buddies of the Brill and the heritage park board of directors – to come up with a way to finance the project on their own.
"We have not given them any municipal funding for this. They just came to us with the idea, and wondered if we would allow it if they could get the funding together. And we said yes."
The Thunder Bay-manufactured buses were in storage in the city transit garage for years before being moved in 2021 to the Pool 6 site where the Lakehead Transportation Museum Society operates the former icebreaker Alexander Henry as a museum.
Last year they were relocated just outside the city to the site on Highway 61 formerly known as Founders Museum & Pioneer Village.
According to Kloosterhuis, "They had a lot of people come to look at them last summer. They fit in well with the antique cars and the racing cars, so it's fine with us. We have an agreement with them, and they are maintaining the buses. We are not maintaining them."
Charlie Brown, president of Buddies of the Brill, said his group first broached the shelter idea with the O.P. Heritage Park board.
"They kind of liked the project. They weren't particularly enthralled with the cover that we were looking at. So we got together with them and they put together an idea for a shelter that would serve two purposes."
Brown said it would be a timber-framed pagoda-like structure that would be suitable for a park theme.
In the summer months, the buses would be moved out for display, leaving a covered area for picnic tables and for use during outdoor events.
He said the process of getting a design and cost estimates is just starting.
"Once we have a firmer idea of the exact costs, and once we get the engineering done, then we can look at what kind of a split with the heritage board and the Buddies of the Brill we can come up with."
A spokesperson for the heritage park board was not immediately available for comment.
