Federal funding request for lighthouse still not submitted
Development Corporation member fears West Point protection coul be delayed until summer
WEST POINT -- A director with the West Point Development Corporation admits he is less optimistic than he was a month ago that shoreline protection for the West Point Lighthouse and the adjacent Cedar Dunes Provincial Park will come this winter.
“The opportunity was missed,” Harvey Stewart suggested Wednesday. He still thinks the political-will is there to protect West Point’s tourism infrastructure from storm surges and shoreline erosion, but, with funding still not finalized, he said spring weight restrictions will now likely become the next hurdle.
The project, according to a plan prepared by Ottawabased Coldwater Consulting, calls for the installation of a series of reefs just offshore to protect the beach front from wave action.
“I don’t think we will see anything done until next summer,” Stewart commented.
Stewart had expressed optimism during a late December interview that work would be underway by February. He said he was told that a request for proposals would likely be issued by the second week of January.
Tourism minister Matthew MacKay was also expecting a fast turn-around on the proposed project.
“It needs to be done; there’s no question it needs to be done for a bunch of reasons. One, just being on the tourism side of it, it’s one of the top tourism attractions in West Prince. We need to protect it,” MacKay told the Journal Pioneer in an interview last month.
But handling of the project is not in the hands of MacKay’s department.
The Department of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy issued a statement on Tuesday revealing there are still some hurdles to clear.
“We have had an initial discussion with Infrastructure Canada and we are currently pulling together the formal application for federal funding. We expect to have it submitted in two weeks,” the statement read.