Waterfront completion in sight

Monday night's regular meeting of council saw a motion put forth to go ahead with the next phase of the Waterfront project.

Council passed the motion that will see them make an application to the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and FedNor. If the funding applications are approved, the City will then contribute a sum of $1,875,000 to the $8,750,000 total cost; the rest would be footed by different levels of government.

"Basically this would put in the grass, the greenery, the park spaces, parking itself for people who drive down there," Councillor Mike Anthony explained.

This would also pay for what is being called a "Civic Plaza" where people could sit down and enjoy the views of Lake Nipissing and the revamped waterfront. The mini train could also be extended thanks to this proposed funding.

Anthony had said working on this has been nothing short of pleasant.

"To me, this is one of the best things that we've had to work on with this council," Anthony admitted. "This motion is one of the most exciting things because eventually what it means is you're finally going to see the real big bucks spent -- in addition to what we've already seen with the underpass and
so on."

"Those final dollars are going to put the final colors into the painting, so to speak."