North Bay’s Deputy Mayor says council is aware that building the Community Energy Park between Memorial Gardens and the YMCA has eaten up parking spaces at the site.
However, Tanya Vrebosch says there was very little choice on the location.
“This was the only location that you could really put this,” she said.
“There are parking issues here. We talked about that when we had discussions about the community centre and dual pad.”
Vrebosch says there’s a long-term plan to alleviate the parking situation.
“We’ll take a look at what we can do not just for the parking lot but also the area to try and take some of the congestion out,” she said.
The solar facility was built by North Bay Hydro Services and powers the Gardens and YMCA through a solar flower that generates 3 kilowatts of power.
The facility will provide more than half the heat and power to both buildings on an annual basis.
In the event of a local or provincial blackout, the system will provide heat, cooling and power to both buildings and can serve as a safe haven for thousands of people.
