From a new works yard in Arthur to reconstruction of Egremont Street in Mount Forest, Wellington North has applied for a number of multi-million dollar projects in the most recent round of infrastructure and BuildCanada grant programs.
The ISF application includes the Arthur Works Yard and Cork Street sewage pumping station
The BuildCanada Fund application is for work on Egremont Street, from Highway 89 to Durham Street including a storm outlet on Birmingham Street (Egremont to Fergus Street).
Mayor Mike Broomhead said while it would have been nice to have all council present Monday (councillors Dan Yake and John Matusinec were absent), he said it was more important to get the funding applications underway. The applications have a May 1, deadline.
He said many municipalities were in the same situation to get these applications in.
There is the BuildCanada fund and the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund that can include more than one project. He said the projects need to be “shovel ready” with all the engineering already done.
He said one project council anticipated including, but is not there is the one to deal with Wells Street and Macauley Street in Arthur. “I personally would have liked to see that project go ahead. Unfortunately, when we met with the engineers they were working on the criteria for that particular project; it wasn’t going to meet the guidelines.”
He did not rule out a future application if things change.
Broomhead also wanted to clear up what he considered to be misconceptions about the Arthur works yard.
“It’s very disturbing, and I’ve heard it again recently at the public meeting a couple of weeks ago,” he said.
The idea of building the new works yard in Arthur does fall under the criteria because it is where the municipality plans to have a snow dump area, the location of a water department, a works yard, and the department can have its own sand hut and salt storage in proper housing.
Broomhead explained that the current works yard in Arthur is not adequate and the building is in poor condition.
“But the rumour that seems to be going around is that as soon as this yard opens we’re shutting down the West Luther yard. That’s been a rumour since day one. It has never, never been said. I underline the word never to the press on this one. It has never been said that the new Arthur yard will result in the shutting down of the West Luther yard.”
Broomhead said what was talked about was shuffling of help and responsibilities.
He said some routes pass by Arthur and there may be opportunities for a shifting of the workload. And having a location that could better store machinery has the potential of streamlining the operations.
“We had talked about changing things around a bit, but there was never any talk about shutting West Luther down.”
He also cited the upgrading of the sewage pumping station on Cork Street. “Again, that project needs to move ahead, but it’s not going to move ahead without funding.”
Under the community component of the BuildCanada fund, the reconstruction of Egremont Street has been on the books for quite a number of years, Broomhead said.
“Basically, the ones with the engineering already in place were the ones we applied for. Our number one priority, is still the construction of the new works yard in Arthur,” he said.
But, he said, he hope to get the two-thirds funding for the Cork Street station.
Broomhead said that once answers are in place regarding discharges into the Conestogo River, he hopes the next round of applications will be for improvements to Arthur’s sewage treatment plant.
Works Superintendent Gary Williamson said the difference between the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund and the BuildCanada Fund are the nature of the projects.
The BuildCanada projects can be bundled.
He used the example of the Egremont application, which includes roads, water, sewer and storm drain work. Under the infrastructure stimulus program, each component would be treated as a separate project.
However, that program allows applications for up to three projects – with no guarantee that all of any would be approved.
Williamson said it is unfortunate in that all the engineering work is done for Wells Street and Macauley, but it does not qualify for grants – because it is strictly growth related.
“As much as we would like to see that project done,” Williamson said the engineers indicated it would “basically be a waste of time to put it in at this time.”
As for the rumour about the West Luther yard, Williamson said part of that could be attributed to the property size for the new works yard in Arthur. The site, he said, is large enough to accommodate the West Luther shop or other growth related work.
He hopes the municipality will hear about the stimulus funding within two weeks of the May 1 application deadline.
Williamson said that once there is direction from the Ministry of Environment about the Arthur sewage treatment plant, plans will be made regarding funding. He said considerable money has been spent on improving the infrastructure in the village and the sewage treatment plant is the next big step.
Councillor Ross Chaulk said he has no doubt the projects are needed, but he remained concerned that Wellington North will still need to come up with one-third funding for them.
Rough estimates of those projects include: Cork Street sewage pumping station ($2-million), Arthur works yard ($1.7-million) and Egremont Street reconstruction ($3.8-million).
Broomhead said many municipalities are facing the same dilemma.
“There’s going to be the day whether it’s Wellington North or some other place in Ontario where someone is going to have to say, ‘Geez, thanks but no thanks,’ [with it not being able to raise the one-third funding].”
Chaulk still has concerns in that even if grant monies are available, the township still has to come up with its one-third of the amount.
“I really don’t like to borrow money – but if there’s free money you gotta take it.”
