City to appeal new summer deadline to dredge sewage-soaked Chedoke Creek
The city plans to appeal new provincial direction to finish dredging a sewage-soaked west Hamilton creek by the end of August.
That’s four months earlier than the previously extended deadline of Dec. 31 to wrap up in-water work at Chedoke Creek.
“We believed that the extension to the end of the year was achievable,” city water director Nick Winters said Thursday.
“We still intend to move forward and get this project done. Do we think we would be able to do it within the new timeline provided by the ministry? The answer is no.”
Ontario ordered dredging of the creek after The Spectator revealed in 2019 the city had kept secret the extent of a four-year, 24-billion-litre sewage spill.
Late Thursday, council met incamera to discuss the amended order before voting 6-5 in open session to launch an appeal.
In December 2022, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks extended the deadline, acknowledging the “complexities, challenges and delays” the city faced in getting the $6-million cleanup done.
Work on the project halted when the Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) called on the city to consult further with hereditary Six Nations leaders and seek consent for the effort based on Indigenous treaty rights.
Winters said the ministry’s amended order reasoned that the city has Fisheries and Oceans Canada exemptions to do the in-water work during a time when it’s off limits due to fish spawning.
“Because of that, (the ministry) feels that we can complete the dredging sooner than the end of the year.”
Staff say the plan was to finish the dredging after the spawning period in July to “minimize any potential risk” to the ecosystem.
In a March 3 notice announcing the amended order, ministry district manager Stephen Burt wrote he was “satisfied” the city’s work plan would protect creek habitat.
“Any effects from the remediation work would be temporary in nature and occur during the actual dredging and would be minimal taking into consideration the protective measures that will be in place.”
As such, the city can start dredging “as soon as the weather permits,” Burt wrote, adding the deadline needs to be moved up to “prevent further negative environmental impacts” on the creek and Cootes Paradise.
In early February, the city told the ministry that the in-water work was scheduled to begin on July 17 and wrap up by Oct. 31.
But Winters said there was no preamble with ministry officials before the new order was issued. “I would say no. It was a surprise.” The city has 15 days to inform the ministry that it intends to appeal the order to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
“While that process continues, we’re going to do everything from an operational perspective to continue with the dredging activities to make sure that we can accelerate it and get things done in a timely manner,” public works director Carlyle Khan said.
Winters says staff will present a status report on the Chedoke project on March 22.
In an email, a ministry spokesperson said the province’s “role is to ensure” the city is “taking all necessary steps to address the impacts of the sewage spill to the natural environment.”
But the city is “responsible for consulting with Indigenous communities and organizations,” including reaching project monitoring agreements, Gary Wheeler wrote.
The city had monitoring agreements with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River elected council and the Huron-Wendat Nation, Winters noted.
“So we’ve been working with them to extend those because they all expired at the end of last year.”
Meanwhile, the city has made efforts through the HDI to reach a monitoring agreement with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, he said.