Building to Commence 2027
What is the City Proposing?
On January 13, 2026, City Council declared the greenspace on Fanshaw St “surplus”, allowing it to be sold to a developer to build a large 150 unit, 5-storey apartment complex. The original conceptual proposal was poorly rendered. The City has now provided a professionally rendered revised conceptual proposal along with a site plan. The Memo to the City of Thunder Bay from the engineering/architectural firm of Brook McIlroy Ltd, outlines the feedback received and how the City addressed that feedback, including reducing the number of units from 200 to 150. The new renderings may look nice, but it doesn’t mean that’s what the finished development would actually look like.
This parcel of land is full of mature trees providing invaluable greenspace to residents in the community. The parcel is zoned as Urban Low-Rise under Thunder Bay’s Zoning By-law, a zoning designation used to permit a range of two storey housing. This designation does not allow for the size and scope of the proposed development, so the developer will be required to apply for rezoning before City Council.
The rezoning application is heard before City Council at a public meeting. This will be our opportunity to make deputations against this development. We must demand our City Council listen to what we, the taxpayers, the residents, want for our communities. We must demand our City Councillors vote NO at the rezoning.
Definition of “Affordable”
This development is not “affordable housing”. The City’s Call for Proposals only requires that the developer demonstrate “how the proposal includes housing units that meet the City’s definition for affordable housing” (emphasis added). However, City Administration is now saying 10% of the units built will meet that definition. What they don’t say, is those units will only need to meet that definition for 10 years. After that, the rents will be increased to whatever the landlord deems appropriate at that time. For more information, check out our post on “The City’s Definition of “Affordable Housing”.
The Design – What we Know, What we Don’t
As mentioned above, a new conceptual proposal and site plan has been provided. However, it still leaves many questions that the City refuses to answer. 150 units in only one, 5 storey building, just doesn’t compute. We believe this building would need to be much taller to accommodate 150 units, and as such, may require Urban High-rise zoning which allows up to 45m tall buildings or approximately 13 to 15 storeys. This zoning designation contravenes the City’s Official Plan as it is not compatible with the surrounding neighbourhood of single family homes.
Rapid Densification and the Impact to Infrastructure
This 150 unit development will see 150+ vehicles and upwards of 300+ new residents added to an already dense neighbourhood. This is rapid densification that our schools, recreational centres, roads and infrastructure will struggle to support. 150+ vehicles will also create additional traffic issues on a very busy stretch of Golf Links Rd and Fanshaw St, as this area is used by residents in the community for access to the Thunder Bay Expressway.
Transition Photos
Below is a series of photos transitioning the greenspace to the site plan for the proposed development on Fanshaw. The majority of mature trees will need to be removed to build this large development, in essence denuding the entire corner of Golf Links Rd and Fanshaw St. A multi-use trail network is “conceptually” shown but doesn’t exist.
Tell Our City Councillors – NO!
Regardless of the size, we do not want to see any development on this site, so we must urge our City Councillors not to support designating this greenspace surplus. Once the City is allowed to sell off our greenspaces and our urban forests, they won’t stop just at this parcel of land, in this neighbourhood. Maybe they will target your neighbourhood next. They will keep going, encroaching further and further until we have no greenspaces or urban forests in our city. Removing trees and surplusing our greenspaces is contrary to the City’s Net-Zero Strategy. The City must be stopped now!