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Development drives road work; City seeing 'robust' building activity

Dave Dale / The Nugget

The four-laning of Algonquin Avenue began with small steps this week and paperwork progress on several residential developments is giving Mayor Vic Fedeli peace of mind.

Jitters and coolness in the housing market in other parts of Canada and the United States haven't trickled into North Bay, Fedeli said while taking part in a golf tournament.

"Continued optimism with no real end in sight," Fedeli said, describing the economic front from his vantage point.

He just finished shooting 109 at the North Bay Golf & Country Club and didn't mind discussing the brighter aspects of the city's immediate future.

"It shows that developers are still confident when people are opening subdivisions," he said.

Last week, council approved a preservicing agreement with Perut Construction to extend Giroux Street south of Trout Lake Road and begin the fourth phase of St. John's Village and the first stage of Perut Place.

The city's share of infrastructure for the planned 30-home subdivision, apartment and commercial centre will likely show up in the five-year capital plan for the next budget.

Council also approved the realignment concept connecting Galt Street and Second Avenue West, with the dip in Front Street - which used to run under the former CN trestle - to be flattened next year.

It's part of the redevelopment of the abandoned railway line running through the heart of the city. Some of it has been sold to abutting property owners to square off their lots, parts were purchased by developers directly from CN and other sections sold to schools.

Mother St. Bride Elementary School on Second Avenue West picked up enough acreage to build a junior soccer pitch and move its playground for a parking lot large enough for safer bussing.

Fedeli said the realignment concept connecting Galt and Second Avenue West will make a big difference in the area.

"There will be large building lot opportunities between Front and Mother St. Bride," he said, with corner lots created at Ann and Front streets.

The configuration of the former CN land between Front Street and Algonquin Avenue, however, isn't deep enough for single-detached homes and better suited for something like a six-plex, Fedeli said.

Describing this year's building activity as "robust" after two years of record setting building permit sales, Fedeli said a lot of the construction activity is going unnoticed.

Neddy's North Bay Hyundai is relocating across Trout Lake Road, bricks are being stacked for Boston Pizza on McKeown Avenue and the trucks arrived Monday to build the Staybridge Suites beside the new Holiday Inn Express, he said.

And that's on top of the $6-million science wing at Nipissing University, the children's treatment centre at Gormanville Avenue and Highway 17 and planned consolidation of the Algonquin Child and Family Services offices at the former Putter's Green location on Oak Street.