Choppy waters ahead
An anticipated lovefest between St. Catharines city council and the Port Dalhousie piers failed to materialize this week.
Sure, matchmaker Bruce Williamson got what he wanted — council agreement to start negotiations for the possible handover of the federally owned piers to the city.
But the prospect of the ownership change failed to generate much enthusiasm from council members, other than Williamson, Port Dalhousie wardmate Carlos Garcia and Mayor Walter Sendzik.
Presumably in an attempt to demonstrate solidarity prior to entering negotiations with the feds, Sendzik pleaded with council on Monday to pass Williamson’s motion unanimously.
Didn’t happen. Couns. Jennie Stevens and Mike Britton failed to jump on board.
Granted, failing to win the support of Stevens and Britton is no big deal in itself, although it must have been somewhat disconcerting for the mayor to have his wishes ignored on what was essentially a motherhood issue. The motion doesn’t commit the city to anything. It just starts the ball rolling.
More troubling for pier lovers than the two dissenting votes, though, was grumbling from others about being saddled with potentially high future maintenance costs.
Doubt was also expressed about the $33-million repair estimate.
Given the financial outcome of other major government projects, it’s hard to imagine there is anyone who doesn’t believe the final price won’t go higher. Question is, who’ll be on the hook for the inevitable overruns?
These concerns will be addressed during negotiations with the feds, Sendzik responded quite reasonably. Plus, council will be kept abreast of the ongoing talks, updates that will presumably allow for input. Council is also the entity that must approve any final agreement.
Still, there was a lack of general cheeriness during the discussion Monday.
A main morose mutterer was Dr. No himself, Coun. Joe Kushner.
Hard to know if Kushner was playing politics or was simply out to lunch, but he took issue with the idea of the feds washing their hands of the piers once ownership was transferred to the city.
After criticizing the concept of a senior government downloading infrastructure to a local government, Kushner more or less demanded the feds commit to paying a portion of the piers’ future maintenance costs.
Huh?
OK, maybe I’m missing something here, but I fail to see how the city has any leverage in this situation. Hundreds of Canadian communities in the 19th or early 20th century had piers/breakwaters protecting harbours for commercial use, whether it was fishing, boat-building, transportation or shipping of goods. Many of the harbours ceased having a commercial function a long time ago. But with the infrastructure in place, the harbours became recreational havens.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, under its Small Craft Harbours section, has no desire to be in the recreational business. Indeed, it actively strives to get rid of recreational, low-activity or derelict harbours so it can “focus its efforts and investments on core harbours that are critical to the fishing industry,” according to its website.
But it will first bring the piers up to snuff, either by doing the work itself prior to transfer or by “providing a comparable grant to the recipient.”
If there is no local interest in taking over the piers, they’ll be demolished.
Makes sense to me. Well, some of it does. I am somewhat perplexed why the federal government would spend $30 million — $40 million? $50 million? — on recreational walkways into the lake. Still, you can see why after shelling out that kind of dough they want nothing more to do with infrastructure that serves a municipal purpose.
Sheesh, if they agree to pay maintenance costs on things they no longer own and that are outside their mandate, it’s no wonder the country’s in debt up to its ears.
It’s hard to imagine the feds coming up with the cash required to restore the piers anytime soon.
But if and when they do, all future costs will be covered by the city.
Don’t like the terms of that gift? Then let the piers be demolished. dherod.niagara@gmail.com