MAPLETON – The township will apply for about $1.4 million in federal disaster mitigation/adaptation funding to assist with the $3.6-million cost of upgrading the Drayton Pumping Station.
Mapleton council approved the decision to apply for the funding at the Oct. 12 meeting, held at the Alma Community Centre.
A report from CAO Manny Baron recommended the town apply to the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF), a national, competitive, and merit-based program intended to support public infrastructure projects designed to mitigate current and future climate-related risks and disasters triggered by climate change, such as floods, wildland fires, droughts and seismic events.
The report notes township staff met with engineering consultant Cima to discuss what project would potentially benefit most from program funding and it was agreed the Drayton Pumping Station would be a good fit.
“The pumping station struggles to keep up during flooding events,” the report notes.
In the report, Baron points out the project is already scheduled to commence in 2023 and is budgeted at $3,565,000.
If Mapleton is successful in obtaining funding, the grant would cover 40 per cent, or $1,426,000. In 2018, an application for the project was submitted to the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund before the funding program was terminated.
“This means most of the background work is complete and can be submitted with only a few updates,” Baron explained in the report.
The application deadline is Nov. 15 and Baron said he anticipates announcements on funding would be made by next spring or early summer.
“It’s a project that’s already in the capital budget to upgrade our wastewater facilities anyway, so it’s a perfect fit,” he told council.
