Norfolk approves repairs to Misner dam
`We got a deal,’ councillor says
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Ten years of dithering came to an end Tuesday as Norfolk council unanimously approved repairs to the Misner Dam in Port Dover.
Port Dover Coun. Amy Martin raised her arms in triumph as council accepted a $1.46-million bid to fortify the 100-year-old structure.
Martin attributed the outcome to council creating a community task force to examine the complicated issue and suggest a way forward.
The task force’s solution included an explicit recommendation absolving Norfolk of any responsibility for rehabilitating the Silver Lake mill pond in back of the dam.
“(The task force) gave them a voice and a seat at the table,” Martin said. “We have an opportunity to make a promise here that has been broken many times, so thank you very much.”
The low bid from Bronte Construction, of Oakville, also helped the cause. The low bid on the table in June, 2018 was $2.1 million. It was rejected in a surprise 5-4 vote.
The $700,000 difference had council members wondering Tuesday what had changed in the intervening 18 months.
“I don’t have a whole lot of understanding of that,” Jason Godby, Norfolk’s interim general manager of public works, said.
“Maybe Bronte wanted to get the job done and put together a bid that meets our needs. It was the exact same set of tender drawings they were bidding on.”
Hundreds — if not thousands — in Port Dover have waited 10 years for this outcome.
Soon after concrete deterioration at the top of the dam was diagnosed in 2010, stop logs were removed to relieve pressure on the aging structure.
The picturesque mill pond in back of the dam was lowered several feet, leaving behind a swampy mud flat that smelled bad in summer.
The campaign to repair the dam began as a stepping stone to restoring Silver Lake.
However, in the intervening years, expert opinion emerged that the dam and its mill pond were needed to prevent the Lynn River and the harbour in Port Dover from silting in. Repeated rounds of expensive dredging would be needed to preserve the harbour and the river in downtown Port Dover in the dam’s absence.
Delhi Coun. Mike Columbus said the surprising price Norfolk got for the work is the hidden, long-awaited silver lining on council’s decision to reject the $2.1-million bid in 2018.
“We got a deal,” Columbus said.
The work involves stabilizing the concrete where it is fragmenting while pinning the massive structure to the underlying bedrock. The unused metal bridge adjacent to Chapman Street East will also be removed.
The work is expected to take two years. Provincial regulations governing the management of aquatic breeding grounds promise to prolong the job.
When it comes to major projects in shoreline areas of Ontario, much of the spring is lost each year while fish and amphibians complete their reproductive cycles.
The gallery at Governor Simcoe Square has been filled in recent years when council was poised to make a major decision on Misner dam.
The gallery Tuesday was noticeably empty, something Martin attributed to the confidence Port Dover residents have that new council members elected in the fall of 2018 will follow through on their campaign promises.
MSonnenberg@postmedia.com
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