111 Huron confirmed as bus terminal location (5 council briefs)

City councillors voted seven to four tonight to stick with their plan to move the downtown bus terminal five blocks west to 111 Huron Street.

Before that, council voted four to seven to reject a proposal from Ward 4 Coun. Rick Niro, who asked that a new terminal be built at the site of the existing terminal at Dennis and Queen.

Councillors agreed to issue a request for proposals for a consultant to finish construction drawings and administer the tendering process for the move to the Huron St. bus barns.

Other decisions from tonight's City Council meeting:

• zoning changes were granted for the old Sault Star building at 145 Old Garden River Rd., clearing the way for our new residential rehab facility to locate there. The Sault Star will continue to use the building for distribution of newspapers, with space left for an additional tenant
• councillors approved a shopping cart bylaw making businesses primarily responsible for making sure carts don't wander from their premises and are collected when they do. Ward 3 Coun. Donna Hilsinger asked that errant shopping carts be rounded up as quickly as possible
• the city will do a feasibility study on a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and Innovation Centre, although some councillors admitted to not having a clue how the proposal from Travis Anderson, the city's director of tourism and community development, differs from the existing innovation centre
• the price of industrial land at Leigh’s Bay Road and Yates Industrial Park will double to $50,000 an acre. Rick Van Staveren, the city's director of economic development, said some prospective purchasers who've already entered purchase negotiations will be able to buy land for the old price of $25,000 an acre

SooToday will have expanded coverage of some of these stories later this week.