Memorandum Office ofthe City Clerk
Fax:
623-5468
Teleph one: 625-2230
TO:
Members of Council
FROM:
Mr. J. Hannam, City Clerk
DATE:
Thursday, September 15, 2016
SUBJECT:
New Business ­ Committee of the Whole - September 19, 2016
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
NEW BUSINESS
1. Ill
Memorandum from Councillor I. Angus, dated September 12, 2016 containing a
motion relative to waiver ofrestrictions on use ofmotorized craft on Boulevard
Lake.
ThWl'1erfii:z
by~
Superior
Memorandum
Office ofthe City Clerk
623-5468
Telephone: 625-2230
F'ax:
TO:
Jolm S. Hannam, City Clerk
FROM:
Councillor I. Angus
DATE:
September 12, 2016
SUBJECT:
Waiver of restrictions on use of moto1ized craft on Boulevard Lake
With respect to the attached correspondence, directed to members of Council, from Dr. Scott
Hamilton of Lakehead University I would ask that the motion below be included on the September
19th Committee of the Whole agenda.
The City of Thunder Bay restiicts the use of motorized water craft on Boulevard Lake both for the
safety of users of the lake and to help preserve the shoreline of the lake from erosion, which the
wakes of motorized craft would contribute to. There are exceptions for emergency craft and City
Council has made exceptions for motorized boats used in support of the annual Dragon Boat
Races and the Wake Board Festival (2007). Dr. Hamilton's research holds the promise of a better
understanding of the heritage of our community and his request for a waiver of the restriction is a
very reasonable one. This restriction is still governed under a by-law of the former Board of Park
Management of the City of Port Arthur. I am hopeful that members of Council will agree and
support my motion to that end.
"With respect to the Board of Park Management of The City of Port Arthur By-law 25-1950,
we recommend that City Council consent to waiving the restriction of the use of motor boats
and/or power boats in Boulevard Lake to allow for archaeological research to be conducted
by Dr. Scott Hamilton in the fall of2016;
AND THAT any necessary by-laws be presented to City Council for ratification."
Attach. Correspondence date September 6, 2016, Dr. Scott Hamilton
Lakehead UNIVERSI TY
Anthropology
RECEIVED
SEP o9 2016
Mayor's Office
(807) -343-8742
[email protected]
Sept6, 2016
Mayor Keith Hobbs and Council
City of Thunder Bay
Dear Mayor Hobbs
I am a Lakehead University faculty member in the Department of Anthropology. My
graduate students and I are developing new archaeological remote sensing methods. We are
addressing the utility of sonar devices to map underwater landforms and archaeological deposits,
and also photo drones to map terrestrial features. I seek permission to undertake sonar survey of
a small part of Boulevard Lake in the fall of2016. I understand that this requires a motion from
council, permitting research using a motor boat on Boulevard Lake. Please consider this letter to
be my request to Council. Ifyou prefer, I would be happy to make a formal presentation.
During a time of low water (fall 2015), we used a drone to produce aerial maps of the rock
ring along the former shore of the Current River in Boulevard Lake (see attachments). While
usually submerged, this feature is locally known since the tops of the rocks periodically appear
during times of low water. Recent dam renovation resu lted in their full exposure. The local press
has covered the story several times. It is a large man-made structure composed of hundreds of
stones of varying sizes. Its age and function is unknown, but likely predates the 1907
construction of the dam. This suggests that it is likely of Aboriginal origin.
As the drone yielded a detailed and gee-referenced image of the structure, it offers a
validation test of our ability to detect relatively subtle underwater features using side-scan sonar.
I propose to conduct a brief sonar survey of the ring and its immediate locality, using a 16 foot
motor boat. I anticipate that this survey would take 2-3 hours, and can be conducted in the fall
after recreational use of Boulevard Lake has ended.
The survey requires slow (2-4 km/hr) transects across the area of interest. The output
contributes to ' underwater maps' (lake bathymetry and bottom profile). This test will aid
graduate student research, and expand local underwater mapping capacity. This has strategic
importance in light of the ongoing development of the Lake Superior Marine Conservation Area,
waterfront re-development, and also recreational diving of ship wrecks in Lake Superior.
Inventorying natural and cultural features within Lake Superior is a necessary prelude for such
underwater heritage tourism, and will ultimately further regional economic development.
In any case, I would be happy to share the already developed map imagery, as well as the
proposed output, with the Thunder Bay Planning Services Division.
Sincerly '
J/~
~i~ton
Dr. cott
Pro essor, Department of Anthropology
Lakehead University, Thunder Bay
955 Oliver Road Thunder Bay Ontario Canada P7B 5E1 www.lakeheadu .ca
Birdseye satellite image of
sw corner of Boulevard
Lake Reservoir.
Water levels drawn partly
down, exposing portions
offormer south bank of
Current River immediately
upstream from falls.
Note partially exposed
ring of rocks on point bar
terrace, with balance of
the structure still fully
submerged.
1 Gibson St.
2 Grenville Ave.
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Detail of satellite image (winter) with narrow blue dashed lines marking original Current River, with heavy blue dashed lines marking the Boule­
vard Lake reservo ir. The colour image of the lake bottom is the survey area documented with the drone in Nov of 2015.
Up: Orthorectified mosaic image of area around rock ring feature
within Boulevard Lake reservoir. This feature is usually innundated
under ca. 2 m of water.
l::-8'
,o-"
point bar
L
Left: Colourized Digital Elevation Model (DEM) photogrammatically
derived from the above image. Low ridges are detected and differ­
entiated, as are naturally occurring rocks (arrows), and water­
saturated logs. The latter are more readily evident in the DEM than
they are through inspection of the air photo mosaic. Also note the
dramatic appearance of the rock ring due to local relief represented
by the density of rocks of various sizes.