North Bay mayor wants to see Airport Industrial Park grow

North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says he wants to see Airport Industrial Park grow sooner rather than later.

It's in the city's 10-year capital budget to expand the park, but McDonald said moving faster would only benefit the city.

"The demand for industrial land here in our community is off the charts, and we don't want to lose the opportunity to bring new businesses to our community," said McDonald.

"We want to expand on the northeast side of our Airport Industrial Park. There's 700 acres up there. That's where we want to put the services."

Since opening in 2012, more than 100 jobs have been created through the private sector.

McDonald said creating more good-paying jobs in North Bay will be key to growing the city.

"Now we're just seeing incredible opportunities, we have people moving back to our city, but you can't just stop and say OK, we're good," he said.

"We want to be able to keep our children and grandchildren here and they need good-paying jobs to be able to advance."

While McDonald won't be mayor after the next election in October, he said growing Airport Industrial Park should be a main priority to be next council.

"We are named one the top 20 places in Canada to invest, so we've got all these companies wanting to come to North Bay," he said.

"If we don't have that service industrial land, we will lose that opportunity. So that would be one of my recommendations for the next city council, to make sure that is their priority."