SACKVILLE, N.B. – The first phase has been completed for several months now but the next step in the Lorne Street project continues to be held up as the town awaits the final approval on an Environmental Impact Assessment by the province.
Work was initially anticipated to get under way this past winter on phase two of the project, which will focus on stormwater mitigation efforts to help ease the flooding issues in that area of town. But town engineer Dwayne Acton said the EIA process has taken longer than expected as there were several unforeseen hold-ups, including a change-over a few months ago of one of the staff representatives from the Department of Environment working on the file as well as waiting on the federal government to review the EIA.
“It’s been a long, drawn-out process . . . it’s delayed us a good three to four months for sure,” he said.
Acton said his department did receive the draft conditions from the EIA this week and subsequently advised the Department of Environment and Local Government that the town is in agreement with the terms. This draft will now be sent to the minister for his approval before any construction can start.
Most of the conditions, he said, relate to the bird nesting season for the area between Lorne Street and the Tantramar River, land on which the town anticipates building two large retention ponds (to store flood waters during major storms), as well as new channels, culverts and a new aboiteau (to discharge the waters at low tide). He said most of the work on this project will need to be done throughout the winter months, “outside the wetlands nesting season” so as not to disrupt the birds’ habitats.
Acton said the delays have been frustrating but he hopes to move forward soon with issuing a tender for the work and noted there are some aspects of the project that can still get under way this summer – such as construction of the new aboiteau.
“It’s been disappointing for sure . . . but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
He said fortunately the town has been issued an extension from the federal government on the timeline for completion of the project. The town was awarded funds for this phase of the project from the federal and provincial governments under the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund in Feb. 2017. Originally given until spring 2018 to complete the project, extensions were recently provided to a number of municipalities and they were given to 2020 to meet the deadlines.
Sackville’s chief administrative officer Phil Handrahan said even without the delays, it would have been a challenge to meet the government’s ambitious timeline so the extension “made it more reasonable.” Handrahan also pointed out that the project will be “improved and enhanced” as a result of going through the EIA process.
