Public consultations set to begin on future of Springbank Dam, will they matter?

Public consultations are set to begin on the future of Springbank Dam but there’s some question as to how necessary they really are.

London city council approved a report by a 14-1 vote Tuesday night that includes holding public information sessions later this month. The report from city staff outlines three options for the future of the dam, leave it broken, repair it or remove it. The report outlines the regulatory hurdles the city would have to undertake in order to repair the dam.

“If we have so much evidence that is showing that the ecological impacts may be insurmountable in terms of the repair of the dam itself, what’s the advantage of putting that forward in a public information session,” asked councillor Stephen Turner.

The report identified 17 different species that are at risk and would be negatively impacted if the dam was repaired.

The report from city staff suggests repairing the dam would be extremely difficult. The quality of the river has improved over the past 17 years and the city would have to get approval from the federal and provincial governments plus multiple conservation authorities in order to move ahead with repairs.

During the council debate, Turner expressed concern the city was offering an option to fix the dam it may not be able to follow through on.

“We’re going to be putting a few options for the future of the dam specifically which may not be consistent with the findings in the report and we may be completely tied in whatever ability we have in terms of making a decision,” he said.

The public information sessions will be held October 18th at the Central Library in the downtown from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. and then on October 19th at Goodwill Industries on Horton Street from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.

The only councillor to vote against the report was Mo Salih.

“On this particular item in the past I’ve always said no and I didn’t want to go ahead with the EA process but I appreciate the report that came forward. My vote has nothing to do with the report itself but I know what I want to do and my constituents have made that very loud and clear to me,” he said.

The future of the dam is included in the One River environmental assessment which covers the Thames River from Boler Road Bridge to the Forks of the Thames and Harris Park. The EA ties together the Back to the River revitalization project and the Springbank Dam. Supporters of the Back to the River project, which would revitalize the forks of the Thames River, want the dam fixed to raise water levels.

City staff say there has been an increase in the populations of “numerous important native species of fish, mussels and reptiles” since the failure of the dam. The report says repairing the dam “would lead to habitat loss for a number of endangered and threatened species at risk.”

The dam has been a sore point in London since it was damaged in a flood in 2000. Repairs on the dam didn’t begin until 2006 and the issue came to a boiling point in 2008 when one of the steel gates became stuck in the open position during a test.

The report doesn’t include a staff recommendation, that won’t be provided until after the public information sessions.

Council is expected to make a decision on the dam before the end of the year.