Converting Crown to cottages.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT: THUNDER BAY

Techno Logic Timber, a Thunder Bay forestry company, wants to get into the cottage lot business.

The experienced logging and chipping contractor answered the Ministry of Natural Resources' call to convert undeveloped Crown land in the Atikokan area into a cottage subdivision on two lakes.

It's new ground for the company to venture on, but not too much of a stretch.

The company has chosen two of the three lakes made available by the Ministry of Natural Resources. They have their sights set on Plateau and Lerome for a cottage development of roughly 100 cottage lots.

"We're a company with 40 years experience in the industry," says forester Al Plourde. "We're experts at many facets of this project."

The company had done some small-scale lot development on private land and are familiar with the province's environmental assessment procedures. As well, they've carved out hundreds of kilometres of bush road and have people trained in wildlife management work.

The municipality wants the economic spinoffs from seasonal residents, but didn't want to take on the development responsibilities.

"It's a good really thing for Atikokan, especially with mills (closing) and the logging the way it is," says company vice-president Mark Mrakic. "Hopefully we can work together and stimulate some revenue there."

Techno Logic was selected last summer from eight applicants to map out a conceptual plan for subdivisions within the township limits.

The MNR, which crafted a special development model, will be overseeing the draft plan since there's strict environmental regulations in place regarding development next ecologically sensitive areas.

"It's a new and innovative way to develop Crown land," says Plourde.

The rules of the process "are pretty new to us" says Mrakic who was preparing to submit their conceptual subdivision plan to the MNR for approval at the end of November.

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Other ministries including Municipal Affairs and Environment will also have a say regarding how many lots each lake can sustain based on phosphorous levels.

Should their draft plan get approved, Mrakic says they'll assess if the economics look right...