THUNDER BAY — A decision by the provincial environment ministry appears to clear the way for the City of Thunder Bay to schedule the long-awaited rehabilitation of the Boulevard Lake Dam.
In January, concerns about the project submitted by one unnamed party raised the possibility the project might require a higher level of environmental assessment.
However, the ministry's Toronto office has now informed the city there will be no Part II Order for the EA. Such an order may be given if there are significant outstanding issues that have not been addressed in the class environmental assessment process.
The city has been asked to provide clarification on some points, including a brief report for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport on protection for any historical values to the dam.
Project engineer Mike Vogrig says the city will satisfy those requests, and can proceed to completing design work in preparation for calling for tenders and choosing a contractor by year's end.
"We can go ahead full-steam with a lot of that work," Vogrig told Tbnewswatch.
The project, estimated to cost $7 million, includes the reinforcing of concrete buttresses, rehabilitating deteriorated protective concrete through patching, replacing wooden stop logs with mechanical gates, widening the deck to City of Thunder Bay standard trail width, and improving the lighting.
Construction won't start until 2020, when Boulevard Lake will have to be lowered to allow access to parts of the dam that need upgrading.
