BARRHEAD - The Town of Barrhead is facing a substantial bill to repair the damage to the access road leading to the wastewater treatment plant, as well as a portion of the Blue Heron Walking Trail.
The question is just how much.
Chief administrative officer Colin Steffes said the Barrhead Regional Water Commission's (BRWC) engineering firm, MPE, estimated the damage to the roadway and path, which washed out in mid-June due to the failure of the culvert, at $500,000.
The BRWC is an independent body comprising members from the Barrhead municipalities. The commission owns the region's water infrastructure, including pipelines and the water treatment plant. It sells the water to the municipalities, which, in turn, resell it to their residents.
"The road needs to be able to handle the heavy vehicles and trucks accessing the water treatment plant, in addition to the staff that run it," he said.
Complicating the repair, he said, is that the water that flows through the culvert is part of the town's stormwater management system.
"So it wasn't a case where we could just snap our fingers [and] put in a new 36-inch, galvanized culvert along with some gravel," Steffes said.
He added that due to the complexity and magnitude of the scope and cost, council hit the pause button to determine where and what portion of the repair would be borne by the water commission and the municipality.
Steffes said council instructed administration during a June 24 in-camera session to write a letter to the water commission suggesting that the municipality and the BRWC share the costs of the repair equally.
However, Steffes said the municipality's engineers believe the costs to repair the road could be less.
"The reasoning for that [where the failure is] is that it is a private serving [the water commission's asset] and not a public road," he said.
Steffes noted the public portion of the road, accessed via 53rd Street, adjacent to Rosemary Empey Park, ends after the small parking lot before the gate to the water treatment plant.
"[At that point] it is the access point for the water commission and the functionality of the [water treatment plant], acknowledging that water goes under it through the creek is the [municipality's] responsibility," he said.
The water commission, at a meeting two weeks ago, voted 4-2 to authorize up to 25 per cent of the repair costs to a maximum of $125,000.
Since then, the town administration staff have consulted with the municipality's engineering firm.
"They've given us a ballpark figure that was less than the $500,000, and we've asked them to have a more detailed look at the project to see if there is a less expensive remedy," Steffes said.
He also added that the complexity and cost of the repair have increased because the timing of the repair requires approval from federal and provincial government departments, as it involves a waterway and potentially could impact the habitat of fish and other species.
Yuill Park
Public Works has also identified that the culvert entering the Paddle River from Yuill Park needs repair and has cordoned off a portion of the park until the repairs are made.
"A portion of the galvanized culvert rusted off. The repair is much less complex. It is just a matter of digging up the culvert and replacing the pieces," Steffes said, adding there might be a delay as the required pieces are a specialized order.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
