The Blue Mountains council has rejected the possibility of changing course on the reconstruction of Bay Street East.
At its meeting on Oct. 29, council voted 4-3 in favour of a resolution from Coun. Paula Hope to reconsider the direction and the plan for the reconstruction of Bay Street East. Although Hope, along with councillors June Porter, Alex Maxwell and Gail Ardiel favoured the reconsideration, the motion failed because it required the support of five members of council.
In July, council voted in favour of moving the Bay Street project, which includes a new sewage system forcemain and other underground infrastructure work, forward into the next design phase. The project would see Bay Street East reconstructed from Mill Street to Grey Street.
At that time, council had decided to ask for the project to be based on a one-way street design that could include sidewalks and a multi-use trail, but council also asked for a design with no sidewalks or trail.
After the decision, council continued to hear opposition to the project from local property owners who expressed concerns about the loss of trees that would be required for the work and who suggested alternative routes be used.
In September, Hope signaled her intention to bring a motion of reconsideration for the project, which first appeared on the agenda for council’s Oct. 21 meeting, but was delayed to Oct. 29 when time ran out before the full agenda could be completed.
“There’s been a lot of concerns about how the Bay Street reconstruction project has come forward and how it has developed,” Hope said. “It’s very important for council to reconsider its direction.”
During the discussion about the reconsideration resolution, members of council peppered Alan Pacheco, the town’s director of operations, with questions about the status of the project and the work that has been completed to date.
“We haven’t even seen the plan yet. How far along are we as far as a percentage and money spent?” Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon asked.
Pacheco said the project was pushing close to a 60 per cent design completion stage with approximately $500,000 spent on engineering. He said council would see an update about the project in a staff report before the end of the year.
Coun. Shawn McKinlay expressed concern about how much reversing course on the project would cost the town.
“If we change the plan again it could be another half million,” McKinlay noted.
Pacheco said some of the work done to date could continue to be used, but said a change in course would have a significant impact.
“Essentially we’d have to go back to square one. It would be essentially starting from scratch,” he said.
With the reconsideration resolution failing to attract enough support, a subsequent second resolution proposed by Hope that would have had staff report back to council on the feasibility of an alternative route for the forcemain was rendered moot and was not brought forward for consideration.
