While Mountain Ash Grove Greenhouse in Wabowden, 111 kilometres south of here, is currently the closest seasonal greenhouse in operation to Thompson, Jeff Fountain has some preliminary plans to at least offer some land for community gardening and perhaps a nursery and greenhouse eventually at the old Tembec sawmill site, according to documents filed with the province and City of Thompson.
Fountain applied last year for a Crown Land General Permit for the 77-acre site, available for year-to-year lease on the east side of Highway 6, two kilometres north of Provincial Route 375, the Paint Lake access road.
In a written proposal, which is part of the Crown Land General Permit application, Fountain writes: "Food security in the North has been one of the priorities of governments here for the past several years. Northern Food initiatives have sprung up and yet there are very few projects around Thompson.
"Over time the intended use of the site will be to supply my family with fresh produce over the course of the summer and have extra for winter storage and use. Over the course of two to three years the site use will be intensified so that that he harvest will be such that a large surplus will be available to sell with the local community."As well as possibly constructing a new greenhouse and nursery, Fountain says in the application he would decide prior to 20011 on whether to build a chicken coop also. Fountain, an environment officer in Thompson in environmental operations with Manitoba Conservation, is still completing due diligence and hasn't made a final decision on proceeding with the project.
The application for the Crown Land General Permit was filed last May and the applicant checked off a mandatory declaration box on the fifth and final page of the permit application saying that they are an employee of Manitoba Conservation - in response to a question asked of all "private corporate applicants."
The Crown Lands and Property Agency (CLPA) in Portage la Prairie because of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) refused to disclose the name of the applicant to the city, said Gary Ceppetelli, the City of Thompson director of planning and community development.
Ceppetelli said he expected the applicant's identity would become known to the city in any event at the time they came forward for one or more permits to erect buildings on the vacant property.
The Thompson Planning District Board passed a resolution Jan. 18 asking the Manitoba's Crown Lands and Property Agency to make obtaining the "required (building) permits" from the planning district a condition of granting the unidentified applicant a Crown Land General Permit for its Application No. 62202.
The old Tembec sawmill site is on Crown land in the Local Government District (LGD) of Mystery Lake, which is part of the Thompson Planning District.
Fountain is also a well-known mixed martial arts instructor locally with the Eight Dragon Kings Budokan and ran fifth in the Churchill riding for the Green Party in the January 2006 federal election, behind Liberal Tina Keeper, Niki Ashton of the NDP and Conservative Nazir Ahmad, but ahead of independent Brad Bodnar.
