London city council will decide what will be done with the Springbank Dam in the new year.
City hall released the results from the One River Environmental Assessment as they continue to consider their options for the Springbank Dam.
Councillors will have three options to consider, rebuild the damn, decommission it, or leave it in it’s current condition.
After years of debate over what to do with dam, it’s being recommended that the city forgo’s fixing the structure. Stage one of the One River Environmental Assessment is suggesting the city decommissions it, or leaves it be entirely.
About 70 per cent of those who weighed in during recent public meetings supported those two options, while just 24 per cent supported rebuilding the dam.
Project Manager Ashley Rammeloo says the public will have another chance to voice their opinion during a civic works committee meeting on Jan. 9, 2018.
“We will present the report to the committee, and that will be a public participation meeting, so people will have a chance to speak at the meeting or submit written comments to be considered.”
The committee will then make a recommendation to council.
The dam isn’t necessary for flood control and is used for recreational purposes only.
If they approve a free-flowing river, the city would have to decide whether to remove the dam’s gates or the entire structure
“The next steps if the recommendations is adopted by council will be to look at how we actually decommission the dam,” said Rammeloo. “Looking at it from what’s best for the environment and also from a financial perspective, and how it ties into other projects along the river.
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.
What followed was a lawsuit by the city against the engineers and designers and a counter-suit against the city. The case wasn’t put to rest until a settlement was agreed to in 2015 that awarded $3.7 million to London.
The settlement allowed Mayor Matt Brown to revisit a campaign promise from his mayoral run in 2014 to fix the dam. Supporters of the Back to the River project, kayakers and canoers support repairing the dam while environmental groups such as WWF Canada, the Thames River Anglers Association and the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation have all called for the dam to be decommissioned.