THUNDER BAY – The City of Thunder Bay has recommended against dredging Boulevard Lake, potentially scuttling hopes of bringing provincial and national dragon boat racing events to the park.
Costs for the procedure were deemed not to be justified by the economic benefits those events would provide in a memo prepared by the city’s director of engineering, Kayla Dixon.
However, other improvements supported by paddle sport enthusiasts could be on the table for the city park, including expanded boat storage, new docks, and more.
“Dredging Boulevard Lake for dragon boat racing will be expensive, will be an ongoing expense and will provide limited economic benefit compared to the costs for the city,” Dixon’s memo read in part.
The report came in response to a request for information from councillors made in September.
Dredging would cost between $525,000 and $600,000 and need to be completed every ten years in order for Boulevard Lake to meet competitive standards for dragon boat racing, the memo estimated.
Those include a channel with a uniform depth of three to four metres.
The city would need to relocate Tbaytel fibre lines that cross the channel in order to complete the work.
Current River councillor Andrew Foulds expressed interest in continuing to pursue dredging as a possibility when Dixon’s memo was presented to city council on Dec. 21, despite the memo’s recommendation against proceeding with it at the current time.
Foulds raised the possibility of finding room for an environmental assessment in the 2021 budget, a first step required before dredging could proceed. The assessment would cost around $40,000 to $50,000, Dixon estimated.
“This is another example where we haven’t maintained a facility over a number of years so it can continue to host provincial and national dragon boat competitions,” Foulds told Tbnewswatch. “We got ourselves into a spot where if we want to dredge the whole thing, it’s very expensive.”
The Lakehead Canoe Club identified other opportunities for improvements to the park, including adding accessible, lightweight docks at the clubhouse, improving the ramp, adding washrooms, additional boat storage, and limited dredging directly in front of the clubhouse.
The city would continue to work with the club to prioritize potential improvements, Dixon said.
A partial removal of driftwood from beaches along the lake’s north end by city staff left Foulds disappointed.
Staff had removed several truckloads of debris, Dixon reported, but some was too deeply embedded in the lake bottom to be removed without specialized equipment.
“It’s a bit disappointing, because I [still] don’t think those beaches are safe to swim in,” Foulds said.
The councillor had raised the amount of driftwood at the beaches as a hazard for swimmers earlier in the year.
Staff would return to the area in the spring, Dixon noted.
