Rising costs delaying major wetlands and dredging project on Lake Scugog’s Port Perry Bay

Creating an engineered wetland and dredging Port Perry Bay to ensure the future of Lake Scugog is a massive environmental project that is so far eight years in the making.

Considering what’s at stake, taking a step back to perform a risk assessment review on the Lake Scugog Enhancement Project seems a prudent course of action, with the proposal on the agenda of a special meeting of Scugog Council Monday.

A financial status update and a project extension to raise additional funds will also be discussed Monday, with rising construction costs and a substantial funding shortfall delaying last year’s anticipated contract award.

The project will see a 245-metre berm (with a trail and fishing platforms) constructed on the lake to contain the 3.68-acre wetland, which will include open and wetland channels, pools, basking logs, vegetated hummocks, nesting features, seed mixes and native shrubs.

The bay will also need to be dredged to a depth of 1.8 metres to create the wetland, with nine dredge areas in total, and two oil and grit separators installed to treat stormwater discharge.

Construction costs for the project, a partnership between Scugog Lake Stewards, Kawartha Conservation, the township and Healthy Lake Scugog Steering Committee, were estimated at about $5 million in 2022 but when the job went out to tender last fall the lowest bid came in at $6.74 million.

With total costs now sitting at least $8 million and a shortfall of more than $3 million, Scugog Council opted not to award the contract, leaving some of the already secured funding in jeopardy.

Rob Messervey, the president of Scugog Lake Stewards, said in a November 14 letter to Scugog CAO Ralph Walton that it was time to “step back” and complete a “structured, comprehensive risk assessment” of the major elements of the project before it is re-tendered.

“Clearly, current concerns are focused on project risks, liabilities and costs,” he said. “It is a complex project and given the lengthy process to date and with some current questions and concerns about project viability and risks, it seems appropriate timing to do a vigorous, focused reassessment on risk.”

The review, which should be carried out “before any decision is made on the future of the project,” should pay particular attention on the berm design, he said, especially given the “propensity” of the peat on the lake bottom to settle, with one option to extend the berm construction and monitoring period to address any longer-term settlement.

“We suggest this is an important next step in the project.”

In addition to preserving the health of the lake – a shallow body of water highly susceptible to environmental changes – the project is expected to increase fisheries productivity, enhance boating and other recreational activities and improve stormwater treatment capabilities.

An ongoing development on the lakeshore in Port Perry has also been a subject of concern for Messervey and his group, as well as the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation – one of the key participants in the project – with a 500-600-unit housing development proposal raising issues of potential impacts on the health of Lake Scugog.

“Over the last few decades, urban development has disproportionately impacted water quality in the lake relative to agriculture, which is the dominant land-use in the watershed,” Messervey said.

With the financing of the project remaining an issue, the Scugog Lake Stewards (who are prepared to fund the review) have suggested extending the project a couple of years to “collectively meet the opportunity to meet funding costs.”

The group has also presented a four-phase community fundraising campaign proposal and will “continue to take the lead” in securing major grants.

Funding for the project is being provided by Scugog Island First Nation, the Region of Durham, Scugog Township (through development charges and a solar/environmental reserve) and grants from Environment and Climate Change Canada and other sources.

Messervey and former mayor Bobbie Drew, who chairs Healthy Lake Scugog’s Steering Committee, will both provide delegations to Scugog Council Monday on the project.

A Class A environmental assessment was completed in the spring of 2023 with public meetings on the project held the same year. Dredging and the construction of the wetland was supposed to happen this fall but may now be delayed until 2026.