Posted on December 14, 2017
By Melanie Irwin, BlackburnNews.com
Mostly acknowledging that they had no other choice, city council agreed to pay off an additional $260,000 billed for Sarnia’s harbour dredging project.
The money, from the Federal Sarnia Harbour Reserve, will pay environmental consultants, and the project engineer as well as frac tank rentals.
“I don’t like it, I don’t want to spent $260,000 more, however, it’s being spent based on the process that this takes,” said Councillor Matt Mitro. “That’s what the harbour reserve is for, to deal with the project.”
Chief Administrative Officer Margaret Misek-Evans told council the dredging, which started in November 2016 and wrapped up this past January, shouldn’t have to be done for another decade.
“We now have an extra ten years to build reserves in that reserve fund and work with the monies that come in from that, without having to go back,” said Misek-Evans.
Councillor Dave Boushy and Mayor Mike Bradley voted against the recommendation.
Around 40,000 cubic metres of riverbed sediment was scooped out of the harbour last fall and dumped at Sarnia’s Chris Hadfield Airport.
But, managing water at the site became a challenge, thanks to an abnormally wet spring and the fact that the sediment was insufficiently dewatered when it arrived, and a water management plan was implemented.
The plan included routine sampling and inspections to ensure no offsite environmental impact occurred.
After being an eyesore for about a year, the piles of dirt were graded into a new berm this fall and seeding is expected to take place next spring.
Source: BlackburnNews.com
