The public recently got its first look at the options for the Station Street bridge and dam in Hillsburgh.
Seven project options were presented during a public information night on May 19 in the town council chamber.
The dam and bridge are owned by the Town of Erin while the water control structure and the pond itself are owned by Wellington County. The county purchased the property and adjacent house in fall of 2015 for the location of the new Hillsburgh library.
The Station Street bridge and dam options were a mix of reconstructing or rehabilitating the bridge and dam, constructing an offline pond or doing nothing.
Of the seven options, the preliminary preferred option is to rehabilitate the dam and reconstruct the bridge, explained Paul Ziegler of Triton Engineering.
This option ranked lowest for cost at $2.4 million. The do-nothing option had an emergency dam decommission cost at just under $2 million, but that is not considered a long-term solution and will not comply with provincial regulations.
Ziegler explained there are significant costs with decommissioning the dam.
“A lot of these costs are natural costs to rehabilitate the area, and they are significant,” he said.
Each option was weighted and scored based on a number of criteria such as technical and functional aspects, natural environment, social environments, economic environments and regulations.
According to the report, the preferred option ranks high because: the bridge and dam will be upgraded to meet safety requirements, it costs the least of the options, and it maintains the cultural heritage of the existing area.
The report also states the preferred option may have minor impacts on species at risk during construction and there could be impacts to the quality of the wetland after construction. There may be long-term maintenance costs associated with this option.
The option to reconstruct the bridge and decommission the dam, at a cost of $3 million, was ranked second and both the option to rehabilitate the dam and bridge ($3 million) and the option to reconstruct the bridge and construct an offline pond ($3.6 million) ranked third.
Mayor Allan Alls said he has changed his view on what should happen to the area since becoming mayor.
“Before I was elected I said drain the damn thing and get back to what God created,” said Alls. “But I’ve since been convinced by a lot of other things … not alone the aesthetic of it, which is important to Hillsburgh; there’s a historic value to it, and then there is the simple fact of doing it and draining it isn’t going to be any cheaper than maintaining it.”
Alls added the county owning the control structure is a “complication.”
“They don’t want the pond drained … they’re now partly involved and they’ve given us a chance to have a real gem of a library and a community centre there. We’d be silly to not at least listen to what they have to say,” he said.
County councillor Pierre Brianceau attended the information night and said he was impressed with the options.
“I’d like to see the pond retained,” said Brianceau.
The comment was echoed by county Warden George Bridge in October 2015 when the county announced the location of the Hillsburgh library.
However, there has been no talk about whether the country would be offering any funds for the construction project.
“Everybody’s trying to make sure they’ve got money to pay what they are responsible for; right now the county is focusing on the building itself and the surroundings,” said Brianceau at last week’s meeting. He added the county may be able to help the town with grants or proposals, but that has not been discussed.
After all comments are collected, Ziegler said a report would be compiled and presented to council this summer.
