City Issues an UPDATED Notice of Application/Notice of Applicant’s Information Session, and Notice of Public Meeting of City Council
The updated Notice includes an updated site sketch. Will this be the last? Only time will tell.
On Thursday, July 9, 2026, the City issued an UPDATED Notice of Application, Notice of Applicant’s Information Session, and Notice of Public Meeting at City Council. You can find a copy of that Notice, which includes the updated site sketch, here. An updated sign was posted the following day, July 10, 2026, on the utility pole at the multi-use trail entrance on Arundel St.
According to the updated Notice, the public meeting for City Council to consider the rezoning, amendment to the Official Plan, and severance (dividing the parcel into two lots) is scheduled for August 11, 2026.
We’ve overlaid the updated site sketch onto a Google Map photo of the greenspace (see photo above on the right), so you can see the impact for yourself. We’ve also identified several of the changes in this site sketch vs the July 3rd version:
- Development has been moved to the east side of the property.
- It is now TWO six-storey buildings but still the same number of units – 360.
- The entrance to the development has been moved from the far west side to the east side, and positioned where the multi-use trail from Arundel St currently exists.
- The entrance to the multi-use path from Arundel St has been repositioned immediately east of the updated development entrance.
- The proposed future severance line is still included. This has several implications, including the possibility of the development being built in stages, changes to the final design of the development without community input, as well as access to the multi-use trail being impeded for a significant period of time, or possibly removed completely.
- ***LAST BUT NOT LEAST*** The most important new feature of this site sketch is the “Future Entrance” road on the east side of the property leading into yet more of the Boulevard Lake Complex.
It is apparent from this site sketch that the City will be selling off even more parkland in Current River for development. As we’ve said before, 791 Arundel isn’t the first and it won’t be the last piece of parkland Thunder Bay residents stand to lose if we don’t fight back and DEMAND our City Council reverse its decision to sell off parkland for development.
If this isn’t enough, there’s more information we’ve learned about the City’ s development plans, whether through Municipal Freedom of Information requests, reading various reports that have been made public, and paying attention to the decisions of City Council.
Stemming from a decision by City Council in 2023 to target parkland for development, City Administration prepared a spreadsheet of City-owned lands, including parkland, for Council’s consideration in the early months of 2024. Because so much is done in closed-session, the final list of those lands wasn’t made public. However, what we’ve gleaned from the spreadsheet we did obtain is that parkland, greenspace, parkettes, and parks, across the entire city, have been targeted. Even the beloved Butterfly Garden on the east side of Boulevard Lake made the initial hit list. Whether City Council thought that park would make for prime waterfront living on the shores of Boulevard Lake isn’t known – maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. All we can do is speculate when faced with a City Council that isn’t transparent about its decisions. Case in point, the MS Society Park that was dedicated in 2014, and is part of the larger Junot Park. City Council thought that would be a great piece of parkland to sell off for development. Just because TBMRA withdrew their proposal doesn’t mean that park is off the chopping block. City Council needs to publically reverse its decision to offer it up for surplus or it will remain up for grabs.
We remind our readers that the City’s “Call for Proposals – Opportunity Sites” process was launched in June 2025 and the surplusing of Arundel was completed in December 2025. However, in 2024, long before the City invited developers to send in their proposals, Terralux had already commissioned Stantec to prepare a “Planning Due Diligence Memo” for 791 Arundel St. Why was Terralux commissioning this work in 2024 when city-owned lands, including 791 Arundel St, hadn’t yet been publicly identified as “Opportunity Sites” in the City’s new Call for Proposals process. How did Terralux know about this particular “opportunity site” well before it was made public?
It appears from this latest site sketch showing the “Future Entrance” on the east side of the property, as well as the “Subject Lands” photo below, that Terralux has been given a head’s up about even more parkland the City wants to sell. Why does Terralux know about this additional parkland being up for grabs even before the City has issued Notice that these lands are being recommended for surplus? How much more of the Boulevard Lake Complex will the City sell to the highest bidder? Will they keep encroaching even further, perhaps right along Boulevard Lake itself?
What You Can Do
If you’re not happy with what our City Council has allowed to happen with our parkland and in particular, with this development, there are several things you can do.
- Attend the Information Session on Monday, July 20th from 5pm – 8pm at the North End Community Centre.
- Send in your comments to planning@thunderbay.ca no later than July 24, 2026 for City Administration to consider incorporating them into the report going to City Council on August 11th.
- Consider making a deputation at the August 11th City Council meeting. You can appear in person or by making written submissions. We will have more information on the public meeting and how to participate, in an upcoming article.
- Write to every single City Councillor and to the Mayor. You can find their contact information here. Tell them exactly what you think about selling off our parkland and this development. Send a copy of that email to save791arundelgreenspace@shaw.ca.
- Write a Letter to the Editor of the Chronicle Journal.
- Tell your neighbours, your co-workers, your family and friends. Remember, parkland across the City is being targeted for development. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.