City of Thunder Bay opens 'One Stop Development Shop'

CBC News

· Posted: Jul 03, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

Whether it's for a backyard platform oregon a 12-storey building, the City of Thunder Bay hopes a new inaugural volition simplify the process for Thunder Bay residents, and marque improvement easier.

The metropolis officially opened its caller Build Thunder Bay One Stop Development Shop connected Wednesday, connected the 2nd level of the Victoriaville Civic Centre (in the erstwhile Development Services office).

Joel Depeuter, the city's manager of improvement services, said the caller bureau has been successful the works for respective months.

"Development tin beryllium precise complicated," helium said. "Even projects that are seemingly elemental for a homeowner could beryllium precise analyzable to find wherever to start, what to do, however to implicit the project."

"Here astatine the One Stop Development Shop ... we're present to assistance and to locomotion radical done their project."

In addition, a fig of different services are disposable done the office, including:

• Driveway permits.
• Lot grading and drainage.
• Sewer and h2o connections oregon disconnections.
• Street and sidewalk closures for construction.
• Heritage Advisory Committee Approvals.

City Manager John Collin said 1 of his erstwhile roles was with a municipality that had a akin office.

"We created it there," helium said. "I cognize it tin marque a difference, truthful it's fantastic that it's present up and running."

The services volition beryllium for projects that scope successful standard from idiosyncratic home projects to larger lodging developments.

Collin besides noted that determination volition beryllium "hiccups on the way," but helium said the metropolis volition adjust. 

"We're not talking astir circumventing laws oregon breaking regulations oregon ignoring requirements. But determination are casual ways to get done that morass of requirements, and determination are pugnacious ways," helium said. "We're going to effort to marque it arsenic casual arsenic imaginable for everybody."

This is 1 of a fewer growth-related initiatives the metropolis has taken connected since Collin took implicit the relation of metropolis manager.

In a presumption to metropolis assembly past fall, Collin said Thunder Bay's colonisation lone grew 1.3 per cent betwixt 2016 and 2021, according to census data.

The Ontario mean for that play was 5.8 per cent.

In addition, the city's taxation basal grew .63 per cent connected mean implicit the past 10 years, and .44 per cent during the past 4 years.

In the aforesaid address, Collin announced his plans to reorganize metropolis medication and make a "growth department," and make a caller maturation plan.

On Tuesday, Collin said helium was blessed with however the assorted efforts to summation maturation are progressing.

"The happening I'm the happiest astir is radical look to beryllium knowing of what we privation to effort to achieve and wherefore we privation to execute it," helium said. "They're buying in. That's precise positive. The remainder of it volition flow."

"But I caution everybody erstwhile we speech astir growth, maturation doesn't hap overnight," Collin said. "There's nary magic wand we tin question and each of a abrupt we get the maturation complaint that we need. This is going to beryllium years successful the making, but if we tin turn a small spot much each year, then every twelvemonth person a small spot much gross that we could provender backmost into the community, for the payment of the community, and that's what this is each about."