Addington Highlands Council - Oct 6/26

Bridge Street Culvert

One year after the major culvert under Bridge Street in Denbigh failed, forcing the closure of the street for months before one lane was opened, Addington Highlands Council has engaged Crain's Construction to put in a new culvert.

The cost is a lot higher than it was budgeted for, however.

The township budgeted $600,000 for the job, but Crain's bid is $980,000, including HST.

The 5 bids that were received after the project was tendered in September were vetted by Jewel Engineering, to provide certainty to the township, and the Crain's bid was recommended by them.

Crain's bid was the cheapest of the five that were submitted. It was $430,000 less than the next lowest bid, which came from GMP contracting ($1.4 million)

Chief Administrative Officer Christine Reed, appearing before Council virtually from a hotel where she was attending a conference, said that there is enough money to fund the cost over-run from the Structures Reserve.

Manager of Roads and Waste Management Brett Reavie said there is a small contingency item in the project budget that it may be possible to cut, “but at $50,000, there is not a lot of cost savings.

In answer to a question from Councillor Leveille, Reavie said that the construction will hopefully take place this year, but that depends on how long it takes for the culvert to be delivered.

“Whether it takes ten weeks for the culvert to arrive, or whether it takes longer, will determine a lot,” he said.

Bridge Street will be closed to traffic during construction, and the public will be notified when that is going to happen and for how long.

Application For Funding

A recently announced funding stream earmarked to support housing starts, or the maintenance of housing stock, by supporting municipal infrastructure in communities that do not have development charges in place, came to the attention of Addington Highlands staff.

In 2019, Addington Highlands Council engaged Jewell Engineering to do the design work for the Trepanier Bridge, which needs replacing. The project fits the criteria of the grant, and Council approved a Staff proposal to complete the application. The application period is short, from the end of October until mid-December, making it a project where having a “shovel-ready” project lined up, is a necessity.

The project has been costed out at an estimated $1.6 million this year, but Brett Reavie pointed to the Bridge Street Culvert project as an indication that it could easily end up costing a lot more than that. If successful, the township will be responsible for 20% of the ultimate cost of the new bridge, with the federal and provincial governments providing 40% each.

Councillor Thompson asked if it was possible to submit a second project or if that would make it less likely for the first application to succeed. CAO Reed said it might be possible, and she will report back to the next meeting, but the township does not have another similar project in a “shovel-ready” state.

“I remember when we approved doing the engineering on this, thinking, when will this ever pay off? But here we are,” said Thompson.

Emergency Preparedness

Based on a question that came up at the all candidates meeting that took place in Denbigh last month, Councillor Thompson said he looked through the AH website to see what he could find about what is available for residents in case of emergency, and how the township will inform residents.

“I did find a document, but it wasn't easy for me. I'm wondering if we could not put out a pamphlet or something simple, with the basic information that people need?”

Deputy Reeve Ken Hook said there is a pamphlet on the site, but it does not say where the Emergency Centres in the township are located.

“A lot of people think the Lions Hall in Northbrook is the emergency centre because they have publicised it, but the centres are actually the Flinton Hall and the AC Centre [Addington Highlands Community Centre (Denbigh), aka the former Denbigh School],” he said. “We should update that.”

CAO Reed said that the Emergency Preparedness Control Group is scheduled to meet this month and will look at the matter.

Land Sale

Council approved the sale of a lot, just south of Northbrook, on the east side of the road on Hwy. 41, to Lennox and Addington County, for a potential small affordable housing project.

(Editors Note – in an article in the Frontenac News last month, the location of the lot was incorrectly identified as being “south of the Flinton Road”.)

EORN Cell Gap Coverage Project

Council received communication from the Eastern Ontario Regional Network about the “Cell Gap Project” that has the goal of providing cell service to over 99% of residents of Eastern Ontario through the construction of 257 new towers, and upgrades to another 311 towers. The project is almost complete. The upgrades are all done and 253 of the 257 new towers are now in service.

One of those 4 towers that are not yet in service is the one on Hughes Road, Sheldrake Lake in Addington Highlands.

“From my understanding, the tower is there, it has been built for months, they are just waiting for a connection from Hydro, so when it is done they will be happy to have service where there is none at all now,” said Deputy Reeve Hook.

Community Builder Awards

The annual Community Builder Awards will include two new categories this year, an Environmental Stewardship award and a Public Service award. This makes seven categories of awards, although they are not all awarded every year. The five existing categories are: Business Leader, Citizen of the Year, Sportsperson of the Year, Art / Cultural and Heritage, and Emerging Youth Leader. ■