Saint Andrews town council votes for Market Wharf refurbishment despite public pushback
Councillors voted 6-1 in favour of the refurbishment at a meeting Tuesday
The meeting room at the W. C. O'Neill Arena was over capacity on Tuesday night as Saint Andrews town council decided the fate of the Market Wharf refurbishment.
In a six-to-one vote, the project will go out to tender, with construction to start as soon as possible. The goal is to finish before next year's tourist season.
The vote came after a two-month coastal study from engineering firm Gemtec concluded the proposed infill design "has minimal impact on flow patterns" and "erosion has been mitigated in the design."
The study was commissioned because some residents were concerned about environmental impacts from the proposed design.
The entire process has attracted a lot of interest and feedback from the community.
"We had to turn people away," said Mayor Kate Akagi. "Our bylaw enforcement officer was there to keep people from filling the room."
With a line of residents crowding around the door, Akagi said it wasn't typical of most council meetings, which see one or two residents in attendance.
"As we already stated before we went through with ... Gemtec, if there was little movement and influx, then we would go forward with the tendering," said Akagi. "And that's what we've done."
The study cost the town $25,000.
"I'm not a scientist," said Akagi. "I have to go by what they say because we paid the money."
After seven years of working on the project, council argued they've had enough consultation and need to get the project started before funding runs out.
Residents like Tom Sparling did not agree.
"It's never too late to do the right thing," said Sparling. "Lots of projects go through a process and don't get built."
Sparling was one of many residents who participated in the initial hearings for the wharf refurbishment. He lives on Water Street, down the coast from the wharf.
"It's going to be horrific in terms of what it does visually," said Sparling. "I think it's going to be a scar on the face of a very historic town."
When Sparling was asked if he thinks there are any positives with moving forward with the wharf project, he simply said, "No."
Resident Steve Saunders agrees.
"I've been going out on the wharf since I was little," said Saunders. "This thing that the town is proposing is an eyesore for what people come to Saint Andrews to see."
Saunders, who has a background in computational fluid dynamic engineering, made a peer review presentation of the study at the meeting.
"What [Gemtec] was asked to do by the town was not rigorous enough from an environmental standpoint," said Saunders. "Their assessment of sediment transport was insufficient, they only took four samples."
Gemtec responded to CBC News in a statement and said "adjacent landowners should not be concerned about erosion from this structure."
Saunders also presented to the council back in 2023 and pointed out that infill similar to the proposed design is illegal in many states in the United States.
However, he ran into a roadblock at Tuesday's meeting.
"I'd like to amend the agenda," said Coun. Kurt Gumushel at Tuesday's meeting to "skip tonight's presentation and move to the business at hand."
Gumushel argued that Section 21.3 of the Local Governance Act states that without two-thirds of council agreeing, they cannot have a presentation twice on the same topic.
They went to a vote and allowed Saunders to present.
"I think maybe they were afraid of what I had to say," said Saunders.
Council will meet in August to discuss the tendering of the project.
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