Posted on October 17, 2018
The Town of South Bruce Peninsula said on its website the Colpoy’s Bay pier was reopened for public use as of Sept. 28.
“The only thing they have to do is just add some bumpers and put the ladder back on it, that’s it,” Mayor Janice Jackson said in an interview after a council meeting in Wiarton, Oct. 2.
Originally, the town had planned to repair the end of the pier for a cost of $250,000, which was to be debentured over a 10-year period.
Earlier this year, Brad McRoberts, the town’s chief administrative officer, told council at a council meeting in Wiarton the middle of the dock was also in need of repair. McRoberts recommended this work be done at the same time as the end of the pier repairs – bringing the cost up to $360,000.
In its discussion regarding Colpoy’s Bay pier repairs the option of decommissioning the dock was briefly discussed but dismissed as council members agreed the dock was an important town asset.
Justin Weatherall, of Weatherall Dock & Dredge Inc., said his company began the repair work around mid-August this year.
“The original krib dock had been destroyed by ice in the last couple of years and would have fallen off if not fixed this year,” Weatherall said in an email.
“It has been repaired to ministry standards and will be there for a very long time,” he added.
Weatherall said his company did the original work in the 1980s, and he and his workers are very proud of it.
Earlier this year, a landscaping plan was created for the site – free of charge – by Fanshawe College students in London.
“[The] landscaping plan was completed but has not been presented to council,” McRoberts said, in an Oct. 4 email, adding the work to do the actual landscaping was not included in the budgeted amount.
“The plans would be for future consideration and future funding if supported,” he said.
The opportunity to have the students create the landscape design came when a landscape architecture professor at the college contacted the town to offer his students’ services. While landscaping wasn’t part of the original project, establishing a partnership with the school may lead to valuable partnerships in the future, McRoberts said at council meeting earlier this year.
Source: Wiarton Echo
