GORE BAY—The Gore Bay public works committee is asking engineers for a proposed new 20-unit apartment building to be constructed in town to meet with the committee to address concerns and questions the committee has with study reports that have been carried out.
“We owe it to the residents of Gore Bay, and those people that would live in the apartments and live in the area, that we have done our due diligence and indicated we have concerns and are not satisfied with the reports,” said Roger Chenard, public works manager. “Why not ask Tulloch to come to a public works committee to outline our concerns and get their reply?”
As had been reported previously, at the urging of its fire chief (Mike Addison) regarding concerns with inadequate water sources and flows to fight potential fires on the land proposed for the development of 20 apartment buildings by Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services (OAHS), the town public works department had been asked to review all reports relating to this and other issues and bring recommendations forward to council.
Mr. Addison told council at a meeting in December, “this study shows that there is inadequate water available to fight a potential fire. We have reviewed the Tulloch engineering report and there is not enough proper water flow, flow rate or drainage from the property or proper sewers.” He said the original proposal was for a three storey, 35-unit apartment building, and that OAHS has changed this to a two-storey, 20-unit building. He said the concerns will remain and pointed out that another study needs to be conducted on the new proposal as it is changed.
This was borne out in the services study carried out by Tulloch that states in part, for proposed water servicing, “an existing 100 mm diameter watermain running along the north side of the site is proposed to service the development for domestic water use. Based on available flow test results, we expect the existing municipal water distribution system to be inadequate to meet required fire flow demands and sprinkler requirements. In order to meet required fire flow demands, two options should be considered; upgrading the municipal water distribution system or adding onsite water storage. Upgrading of the municipal water distribution system would require further investigation and likely a combination of extending the municipal watermain along Water Street and upgrading pumps. This would need to be confirmed by the development of a water model of the entire town, which is beyond the scope of this study,” the Tulloch report reads.
At the public works meeting last week, committee members looked at the reports and voiced concerns with other issues; not enough water in ground holding tanks to support fire suppression, the fact that the report indicates there was not enough water for the proposed 35 units.
There were also concerns with the sewer system, drainage (including flooding in the spring with a flood plain already in the area and flooding that takes place in the entire development area in the spring, on area) properties and Bickell’s Creek, which will be more prevalent with further development in the area. On the latter, there was a concern that studies were carried out in the summer when there was no flooding, and traffic flow studies that were carried out November 5, 2021 that should have been taken in the summer when there is an increase in traffic in the area.
“I’ve read all the studies done thus far,” said Gore Bay Mayor Ron Lane. “In the environmental assessment, it is stated in the study there is no issue with the additional development but if there was a change to the status quo, then a stage two study needs to be carried out. A phase two study is needed for sure, and more in-depth than the first study.”
One member of the committee said 2,000 metres is being added to the parking lot, and with natural water runoff, this is going to be diverted into neighbouring properties and into Bickell’s creek.
It was noted at a public meeting held late last year, that representatives of OAHS said that the engineer had met all conditions for the studies.
“I think what we need to do is hire an engineer to challenge it,” stated committee chair Dan Osborne. “The town has to challenge these studies and reports through having an engineer do a study. We have to have detailed proof of the concerns we have raised and the only way to have this is by having an engineer undertake the studies.”
“I don’t think we have to hire an engineer. It was indicated that under the environment study that if there was a change in the proposed phase one use, which is the case, they would have to carry out a phase two study,” said Mayor Lane.
“I don’t want to spend a great deal of money to have an engineering firm carry out a report for us, but if we are going to challenge the engineering reports that have already been done, we have to do it the right way,” said Mr. Osborne.
“It should be on them (Tulloch) to prove this,” said town public works manager Roger Chenard. “It is their building (the Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services, who contracted Tulloch for the study) they are proposing, and we have information from their studies that we have concerns about.”
The committee agreed they are not satisfied with the studies and will invite the engineer to address the committee, outline their reports and discuss the concerns raised by the town and committee.
