Town gets $1.5 million for Hillsburgh bridge project

The Town of Erin has received a $1.5 million provincial grant that will cover more than half the cost of rebuilding the Station Street bridge in Hillsburgh.

The total cost of the project, which includes rehabilitation of the millpond dam, is estimated at $2.5 million. Design work will be completed this year, with tendering expected in the fall and the start of construction in the spring of 2019.

“The significant repairs being done to the structure will be of added value to the town as we continue to grow,” said Mayor Allan Alls.

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.

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.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs approved the grant through the top-up component of the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF). The town applied for $1,576,988 in July last year, but the grant was not approved until the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change gave the project the green light.

“The OCIF grant is great win for the Town,” said CAO Nathan Hyde. Erin has been turned down for OCIF grants in recent years. The program provides long-term funding for small, rural and northern communities to develop and renew their infrastructure. 

The project was the subject of an environmental assessment that recommended preserving the millpond. Town council and Wellington County backed the EA result, but it was challenged by Credit Valley Conservation and others who preferred either decommissioning the pond, or creating a smaller, off-line pond. 

Town council was prepared to go ahead with the project without a grant, and had arranged $2.5 million in debt financing. Mayor Alls said he expects that debt will still be used to cover the balance of the cost.

He said the town might be able to reduce the cost of the project if sections of the dam’s foundation can be re-used. Construction will have to be timed to avoid disruption of trout hatching.

The bridge was built in 1917 and was first identified in 1971 as being in need of replacement. Although the dam had repairs and reinforcement after an outlet pipe failed in 2011, forcing temporary closure of the road, the province is insisting that the risk of failure be brought up to modern standards.

Meeting on Erin gravel pit expansion

A public meeting will be held at Town Hall on March 6, at 6:30 p.m., to provide updated information from the county planning department on the proposal to expand the Halton Crushed Stone gravel pit just south of Erin village.

Some residents of Aspen Court and the surrounding area have been urging town council to oppose the plan, or to obtain concessions from the company to reduce the impact of noise, water runoff, dust, traffic and visual appearance.

The current pit is set back 300 metres from County Road 52. The proposed 140-acre expansion of the extraction area would bring it closer (on both sides of Tenth Line), with the company offering to make the setback 60 metres instead of 30 metres.

Residents have posed a long list of questions to the company and the town. There remains uncertainty about why housing was allowed next to lands zoned for gravel extraction, and why the previous pit owners did not extract closer to the homes.

The current projection is to complete excavation in the area closest to the subdivision within five years, based on a rate of 400,000 tonnes per year, but HCS is not agreeing to any firm deadlines.

Other issues include the recycling and stockpiling of old asphalt and concrete on the site and the parking of trucks on the Tenth Line.

HCS proposes to reduce stockpile heights and increase berm heights, and to plant a mix of coniferous trees and shrubs. They will move the main processing area to 1.2 km from the subdivision and have agreed to some changes in the hours of operation. They are using strobe lights for safety instead of back-up beepers on trucks in the early morning hours.

In its application for a provincial license, HCS has included the possibility of temporarily closing the Tenth Line between the pit areas and mining the gravel in the road allowance. This would be the last phase and would require an agreement with a future town council. The town could be entitled to a large quantity of free gravel for road maintenance as part of such a deal.

Minor flooding as deluge hits Erin

A combination of melting snow and persistent rain has damaged rural roads and caused minor flooding of low-lying properties in Erin village and Hillsburgh.

The Erin millpond overflowed its banks near the Charles Street dam on Tuesday, Feb. 20. Water was flowing on both sides of a house next to the dam before cascading back into the West Credit River, but there did not appear to be erosion or damage to the dam structure.

“It was pretty scary as the water kept coming up and up,” said Tim Inkster of Porcupine’s Quill on Main Street, who has a printing press in his basement close to the pond.

This is the highest water he has seen here in 45 years. It did not reach his basement, and was receding the next day. But with heavy ice still on the pond and the water level very close to the bottom of the Charles Street bridge, he is concerned that an ice jam could cause sudden flooding.

Water from the Charles Street dam millrace gushes through
the mill ruins on the former Mundell Lumber property. More photos below.

“Dams are being watched,” said Erin Road Superintendent Greg Delfosse. The water was above the concrete reinforcements of Hull’s Dam near Church Blvd., but the earthen berm was not eroding.

A high volume of water was passing under Main Street through the millrace chute that goes from the Charles Street dam to the old mill ruins on the former Mundell Lumber property, re-entering the river downstream of the Millwood bridge.

Just south of the Hillsburgh millpond, a section of Station Street was inundated with water on Feb. 20, leaving some large pieces of ice when it receded. Delfosse said it was due to heavy runoff combined with slow drainage through a culvert under the Elora Cataract Trailway into the millpond, an area where beavers have been active.

Tailwinds Bed and Breakfast, owned by Trevor Crystal and Janet Blanchard, is located at 17 Station Street near a small pond south of the trail. As rising water moved up their lawn, Crystal put out an urgent Facebook appeal.

“Anybody close to us, please bring sandbags and muscle to help save our home,” he said.

A “small army” of community volunteers, including staff from McKinnon Timber Mart, responded. About a dozen people built two short walls of sandbags with a pump between the rows.

The water was almost three feet deep in some areas, and although it reached the house, it did not breach the sandbags. By the next day, it was all gone.

“I cannot say enough about the amazing people in our community – thank-you so very much,” said Crystal in a follow-up posting.

The high volume of surface water overwhelmed storm drains on Main Street in the south end of Erin village for a short time on Feb. 20. Wellington Road 124 traffic continued to splash through several inches of water on the roadway.

Delfosse said many gravel roads in rural areas have had washout damage. Crews have put new gravel into some of the deepest holes, but roads are still too frozen to be regraded.

As of Feb. 21, the following roads were closed: 27 Sideroad between 10th Line and Winston Churchill Blvd., 1st Line south of County Road 124, 3rd Line from County Road 124 to 17 Sideroad, 4th Line from Wellington Road 50 to 10 Sideroad and 5th Line south of 17 Sideroad.

Back yards were flooded behind the downtown business district.

Water flows against the foundation of a house east of the Charles Street dam.

The West Credit River was over its banks east of Main Street

Water was flowing on both sides of a house west of the Charles Street dam.

Yards were under water on the west side of Erin's lower pond.

Erin may enforce idling bylaw on 124

The Town of Erin is considering whether to enforce its idling control bylaw, in an attempt to force truckers to shut down their engines while they go into the Tim Hortons restaurant at the north end of Erin village.

Town council received a motion from its environment committee on Jan. 16 requesting that idling control signs be erected on a section of County Road 124 to educate drivers about the bylaw, and that “after a reasonable amount of time”, the town bylaw officer be directed to issue tickets.

Truckers often leave their engines running while they go into Tim Hortons.

The motion initiated by Heidi Matthews says highway trucks are breaking the bylaw “regularly and routinely on a daily basis”.

Council decided it needed more “clarity” on the matter, since the town cannot erect signs on a county road. A decision has been deferred until after Mayor Al Alls discusses the matter with county officials.

CAO Nathan Hyde said signs are not required for the bylaw to be enforced, since it applies in all areas of the town.

There was also discussion, but no decision, about whether trucks should be allowed to park (with engines off) on that section of road.

“I’ve been after the county, from the roads perspective, because I’m getting more concerned about the number of trucks parked on either side of that road,” said Mayor Al Alls.

“The shoulders are slowly sliding in towards the ditch. It also blocks good vision going around the corner there. It’s a screwed up intersection.”

Councillor Matt Sammut said he tends to agree with the motion, saying that idling “does impact the environment”. Councillor Rob Smith said if diesel engines cool off, they are more difficult to start up.

The idling control by-law, enacted in 2009, says it is illegal to allow the engine of a stationary vehicle to run for more than three minutes. There is a range of exceptions, but unless a truck must stay running to operate a refrigeration or heating system for cargo, idling outside a restaurant is normally not allowed.

The Municipal Act allows local regulation of matters that affect health and safety. The Erin bylaw asserts that vehicle emissions cause air pollution, resulting in a risk to respiratory health.

Erin truck bypass would cost more than $11 million

An updated estimate on the cost of a possible bypass to divert trucks north of Erin village was discouraging news for members of town council – and now they want an estimate on a bypass to the south.

A report from County Engineer Don Kudo said a recent review of the 17 Sideroad – Trafalgar Road route projects the cost at $10.7 million – a huge increase from the initial estimate of $2.6 million when the initial study was done in 1999 by Dillon Consulting.

Truck traffic in downtown Erin has been a problem for decades.

Because Trafalgar near 17 SR is on an incline, a bypass would have to include climbing lanes, through lanes and turning lanes. A new intersection would be needed on County Road 124 at the north end of Erin village, along with reconstruction and widening of 17 Sideroad.

The $10.7 million estimate does not include property acquisition, utility relocations, culvert replacement, a new bridge or design/engineering costs.

 “It looks like this has been created, to be blunt, so that it’s a no-brainer to say No,” said Councillor Matt Sammut, at council’s Jan. 16 meeting.

“Trafalgar is an acceptable road. I do understand the corner would have to be adjusted, and I understand that the corner of 124 would have to be changed. But nearly 11 million dollars, plus HST? I shake my head when I read this. 17 Sideroad probably would require some work.”

Mayor Al Alls said it would be “major” work, and a “struggle” because of the disruption to residents of 17 Sideroad. He speculated that once a cross-walk is installed this spring, truckers might be looking for alternate routes.

Councillor Jeff Duncan said he heard one merchant say he would be willing to hire someone at minimum wage to press the cross-walk button all day long. “That’s a lot cheaper than $10 million,” he said.

Sammut said the lack of a truck bypass is causing serious harm to the town.

“It’s this council and future councils’ job to create the best environment for businesses to grow. My guess is that if I asked a lot of shoppers, they’d say they don’t like darting in front of trucks. It absolutely impacts tourism. It’s not an enjoyable experience to walk downtown and every third vehicle is a tractor-trailer.”

The estimate for the northern bypass includes alignment shifts due to property conflicts and disturbance of environmentally sensitive areas.

 “I don’t think the figures are exaggerated,” said Als, predicting a bridge on 17 Sideroad would also have to be reconstructed.

Als said if the bypass route became a county road, the Town of Erin would have to take responsibility (and pay the costs) for Road 124 (Main Street) through Erin village.

The original cost estimate for a northern bypass was revised to $3.9 million in 2000. After that, when it became clear that a bypass would not be built in the near future, the county proceeded with reconstruction of Main Street downtown.

Alls said it would be less expensive to have a bypass to the south of the village. Trucks travelling west on Road 124 could turn south on Winston Churchill, then use Road 52 (Bush Street) to reconnect with 124 at the south end of the village.

Council agreed to request a cost estimate from the county for that route. Sammut immediately voiced concern. He lives in that area, where many residents oppose the proposed expansion of a nearby gravel pit.

“That’s a key cog for commuter traffic, and how much truck traffic is there from the pits – a significant amount,” he said.

“And now we’re thinking of adding further truck traffic? You’ve got four streets coming into the main road. You would have to adjust totally Bush Street coming up Main Street, because cars are flying around that corner. There’s no way it could work without significant adjustment.

“You want an uprising? You are risking an uprising at the south end of town already.”