The city is waiting to hear from Natural Resources

Minister Donna Cansfield and also from the Grand River Conservation Authority about whether work can proceed at a work site that was occupied by protesters. City hall wants an extension of a Sept. 15 deadline for the work to be completed.

“We are hopeful that the deadline will be extended, given the circumstances. That is a call the GRCA has to make,” said Peter Cartwright, the city’s general manager of economic development and tourism.

The city originally got provincial permission to build a bridge over a tributary of Hanlon Creek and install part of the water lines and sanitary sewers for the first phase of the business park, so long as the work was all done between July 1 and Sept. 15 so as to avoid untimely disruption of fish breeding habitat.

Given the occupation of the work site by protesters starting July 27 and the subsequent court ruling, it’s probably not realistic that all this work can be done this year by Drexler Construction, Cartwright said in an interview Monday.

The city’s main priority now is to get the footings for the bridge over a tributary of Hanlon Creek installed this fall, he said. This would allow the bridge to be completed next spring without affecting the streambed during fish breeding season.

The city’s request for a court injunction to get the protesters off the work site was countered by an injunction request from the protesters to stop the development. While granting the city’s injunction to stop people from trespassing on the land off Downey Road, the judge also issued a 30-day stop work order on the bridge work to let the Ministry of Natural Resources assess the situation.

In a bid to get some work done this year, city officials have met three times since the Aug. 13 court ruling with Ministry of Natural Resources officials to discuss environmental concerns, and correspondence has also been exchanged, Cartwright said.

Out of these meetings, the city has proposed a mitigation plan for the bridge work which has been submitted to the province.

“We are hopeful this will allow the minister to sign off early,” he said.

Cansfield could decide at any time to let the project proceed, could extend the work stoppage or could do nothing, in which case the injunction would expire Sept. 13, Cartwright said.

“We are just sitting and waiting to hear from the minister and to hear from the GRCA,” he said.