Centre Wellington Township will be taking over the ownership of the Atkinson bridge on Jones Baseline in order to rebuild it.
The bridge was built in 1924 and spans the Irvine River at Sideroad 15 in West Garafraxa.
The county roads committee held a special meeting about the issue on March 29, two days prior to the regular county council meeting. County Treasurer Craig Dyer said in his report to county council the bridge is one of a dozen designated as a county bridge on a local road.
He also reminded council that it had passed a resolution just over a year ago that the county should rebuild or close, if deemed appropriate, those bridges designated as county bridges on local roads, on a priority basis, and thereafter the responsibility of the bridge should be returned to the local municipality.
Roads committee chairman and Centre Wellington Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj explained in a discussion that Centre Wellington had begun plans to repair the bridge in 2006, when she was not on that council. The township had always maintained it, and when she joined council she learned the bridge was actually owned by the county.
She said there were later issues with Aboriginal rights, and the environmental process, but the township had applied for grants from the Canada Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (COMRIF).
The total cost of the project is $2.1-million. The COMRIF funding is $733,000, and the county has approved $1.32-million through the 2010 and 2011 capital budget. It will spend $775,000 from the property tax levy, and receive another $550,000 from the federal gas tax reserve fund. The county is paying the one-third share that was the share of the municipality because the county owns the bridge.
When the work is done, the township will get ownership.
Dyer noted township officials have some concerns that an agreement had not been signed between the federal and provincial government to extend the deadline for eligible expenses under COMRIF to Oct. 31.
Dyer wrote in his report “The strong possibility of a federal election could result in further delays. In the event that such an agreement is not reached, the county would be responsible for the full cost of the project. Township officials will continue to reiterate to the province the need to have this agreement signed to secure future funding.”
He added that any additional funding required as a result of the tender award or loss in COMRIF funding would be provided in equally amounts from the roads capital reserve and the federal gas tax reserve fund.
Council agreed to the recommendation that the ownership be transferred to Centre Wellington and to Dyer’s recommendation that extra money required come from those two reserves.
When asked if the move with this bridge is part of a plan to begin roads rationalization, which means the county would swap some roads and bridges with its lower tier municipalities, Ross-Zuj said it was not.
However, she added that is still something she expects the roads committee to deal with.
The county has been talking about exchanging roads and bridges with lower tier municipalities for nearly ten years, with little progress on it.
