Adrien Foisy was not pleased when he learned that there had been little progress from North Bay City Council on installing a new RV waste dump since he had last addressed them.
"Come on, you guys can spend millions on sports, Memorial Gardens, Omischl field and all we're asking for is a little dump-out," said Foisy while presenting before Council.
"People are going to get angry, they are going to start dumping their trailers everywhere, on the side roads. There is nowhere to go in North Bay. Sturgeon Falls has one," he added.
Summer RV season is gearing up in Canada, and Foisy has pointed out in the past that nothing has been done to fill the void left by the closure of the municipally-owned RV dumping station in 2015. The dumping site was located on the land at the corner of Seymour Street and the Highway 11/17 Bypass that the Chamber of Commerce once called home, and where the Dionne home still sits (for now). That land has since been sold and developers of a gas station were to take ownership June 1.
Foisy has said that such a station would be useful to RV owners from North Bay and beyond, but King warned that what was once a free service to RV operators would probably have a fee associated with it under a new incarnation. Some campgrounds in the area offer waste dumping for a fee, while others only offer the service for occupants of their camps.
"I was here a few times this winter to talk about the pump out for RVs and trailers. I'd just like to know, I never got an answer. I'd like an answer to see what's going on with that, to see if you guys found a spot for that," said Foisy, Tuesday at the regular meeting of Council.
Coun. Mark King, whose Community Services portfolio the RV dumping station falls under, responded to Foisy, "I can tell you I have asked for a staff report from the Community Services Manager [John Severino] and we should hear about that shortly."
"And does it look good?" asked Foisy.
King began to answer, "Until I see the staff report and Council has a chance to look at it..." before being interrupted by Foisy, who interjected "there are a few good spots in North Bay, just in front of Stradwick's where the transports fuel, it could be along the fence there. There's also beside the recycling, by Ontario Northland, down the road there where it goes across, you could just drive right around. There are lots of spots. "
Added Foisy, "When there are special events, there are lots of trailers around, where do you send them? It's not a big thing we're asking, it's just a six-inch pipe connecting to a sewer, with a bit of water. So, I'd like to hear something soon about that. If it's possible."
Deputy Mayor Sheldon Forgette had indicated in fall 2016 that he had intentions of including an RV dump for consideration during 2017 budget deliberations.
At Tuesday's meeting, Forgette told Foisy that "I recall throughout the budget process that we did discuss it [an RV dump], and I do recall that a majority of Council was not in favour of doing anything this year."
Forgette said after the meeting that cost was a factor in the project losing favour, adding that a new dumping station could cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars.
