The Town of Erin has received approval to reconstruct
the Station Street bridge, rehabilitate the dam and preserve the Hillsburgh
millpond.
Chris Ballard, Ontario Minister of the Environment and
Climate Change, announced the decision on Feb. 2, more than a year after the
project was put on hold. Credit Valley Conservation and several residents had
appealed the results of an Environmental Assessment, claiming the town followed
a “flawed process”.
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Wellington County owns the water control structure in the
Hillsburgh millpond dam, while the Town of Erin owns the
earthen berm that supports Station Street.
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The minister dismissed all of the objections, but did
order the town to monitor and mitigate the impact on local groundwater and wildlife.
The town must ensure the bridge can withstand a major regional storm and make
contingency plans for extreme weather events.
“I am pleased
that the minister agreed with the town’s position,” said Mayor Al Alls. “This
structure is important to the successful movement of people. The added benefit
of the province allowing the pond to stay is that we will continue to maintain
an important cultural amenity that is a landmark of our community.”
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Gooderham and Worts built the dam that created the Hillsburgh
millpond in the early 1850s, with a new mill that shipped
grain to what is now Toronto’s Distillery District.
The Station Street bridge was built in 1917.
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The $2.5 million project will now proceed, but will
not be complete before the early summer opening of the new Hillsburgh Library
next to the pond. Draining the pond would have cost an extra $700,000.
Credit Valley Conservation had wanted full
consideration of decommissioning the dam and possibly creating a smaller
“off-line” pond next to the river, to improve fish habitat. The town said it
could not consider those options since Wellington County owns the pond and is
committed to preserving it.
The minister said the town had “no obligation to carry
forward alternatives that are not reasonable, practical or implementable”.
The 101-year-old bridge was first identified in 1971
as being in need of replacement. The road on the dam was closed in 2011 after a
section subsided due to a failing outlet pipe. Temporary work was done in 2012
to make the road safe for traffic, and steel reinforcements installed to
protect the earthen berm that holds back the water.