By JAMES MATTHEWS

Replacing the dam on Big Hawk Lake is not in the current five-year plan and there is no timeline for the work.

It’s more reasonable to look toward a 15-year window for the work.

Chris Card, the township’s parks, recreation, and trails manager, said he recently met with Parks Canada officials to discuss work to replace the Big Hawk Lake dam log chute.

He said his initial intent was to have a fulsome discussion about the log chute. His federal counterparts had issues of their own they wanted to speak about.

“All of it is partly combined,” Card said.

The lake’s dam has property on each side. The municipal Crests of Kennisis Trail traverses the dam and winds up to the five viewpoints on Little Hawk Lake. But about the first 100 metres of hiking trail is on Parks Canada land, he said.

“They (Parks Canada) have made it clear that they want to get an agreement in place for everything that we have there, being the trail and the log chute,” he said.

Work to replace stairs has been planned for this year and money has been allotted in the 2025 capital budget for the project. Further meetings with his federal counterparts will happen to spitball ideas for the traverse farther up the hill off the dam and toward the hiking trail.

Card doesn’t expect that work to be any more extensive than handrail systems to be developed in the future. Parks Canada officials are drafting an agreement for consideration. 

When the township can replace the log chute is dependent on when Parks Canada can replace the dam itself. Again, that won’t be in five years.

Card said it was communicated that, although it is not determined, as the discovery process has yet to happen, a replacement dam may not be in the exact same location as the current dam.

“It might be a little bit upstream,” he said. “It might be a little bit downstream. Or maybe it will stay in the exact same place.”

“What does a little bit mean?” Mayor Liz Danielsen said.

“It’s impossible to say,” Card said.

Crews will need to install a cofferdam, which is a temporary enclosure in the water to create a dry working space. The log chute would need to be moved out of the way during construction and then re-installed afterwards.

Until the engineering commences, it can’t be decided where that cofferdam will be installed.

Moving the dam to another location could make it necessary to alter the structure’s design, the look of the chute, and the access to the trail.Given the uncertainty of the location of the future dam, council may want to consider its replacement as timelines become clearer.  Until then, perhaps the chute’s damaged logs could be removed.

The log chute continues to deteriorate and tending to the damaged logs may ensure the structure doesn’t become too cumbersome to replace in the future, Card said.

Staff recommends engaging a consultant to look into next steps toward the removal of the existing damaged log chute structure. The intent of this discussion would be to determine the process and costs, he said.

Deputy Mayor Jennifer Dailloux said there’s a fine balance between safety considerations and keeping the log chute.

“To take it out before we absolutely have to would be a shame,” she said. “I also think that the further along in time we get from the time the chute is taken out to the replacement time, should council decide to wait until the (repairs) are done, the higher the chance that it will not be replaced at all.”

If it could be as long as 15 years before the work begins, Dailloux said that would mean decisions would be made by two councils in the future.

“If there isn’t that memory of it there, we run the risk that someone in the future will say it’s not an important enough thing to put in, which would be a terrible, terrible shame,” Dailloux said.

That was a lot of words Dailloux used to say she believes the structure should be kept as long as possible but not at the risk of safety.

“Have you looked at it lately?” Danielsen said.

“Last year,” Dailloux said.

“It’s in bad shape and it is deteriorating faster than I’d like to see,” Danielsen said. “I know there has been a risk or a concern about kayaks going down the log chute which they have done in the past.”

She said she doubts it would be possible to take a kayak down the chute now.

“But still, I just kind of wonder about the whole issue of liability,” Danielsen said. “The longer we wait, the more it will cost to remove it.”

The log chute continues to deteriorate and if a higher volume of water goes through and it breaks apart, there’s a risk it could block water and cause nearby floods, said Angie Bird, the township’s CAO.

“It could be years down the road, but we don’t know that,” Bird said.

Council decided to engage a consultant to look into the cost to remove the damaged log chute.