Centennial Park Boat Ramp at Sarnia Bay Marina. Photo courtesy of @Sarnia_OntarioCentennial Park Boat Ramp at Sarnia Bay Marina. Photo courtesy of @Sarnia_Ontario
Sarnia

City reveals final cost of Centennial Park boat ramp project

When all was said and done, the new Centennial Park boat ramp cost taxpayers $1,039,046.

The figure was included in a project recap report presented to council Monday.

"I just want to make that clear," said councillor Dave Boushy who pulled the report from the agenda for discussion. "The news media were asking me how much it cost and I said $1-million because I remember it being $1-million... Yet, there was a report saying, no, no, it's not $1-million dollars. It's about half a million dollars, or $400,000. But, it was $1-million for the cost of the boat ramp. It's right here in black and white."

Councillor Matt Mitro said while everybody wanted it to cost less, it was complicated.

"Yeah, it ended up at $1-million dollars," said councillor Matt Mitro. "That part of the entire project was, to my mind, the only real error -- whatever you want to call it -- that happened and it was a very circuitous thing that happened."

Councillor Anne Marie Gillis pointed out that the project was plagued with delays, to the point where the contractor [Golder Associates] was dismissed.

"This final number, it encapsulates the failed attempts of Golder and incorporates BreEx coming in to finish up the job," said Gillis.

Chief Administrative Officer Margaret Misek-Evans reminded council of the initial proposal -- to build the ramp in the dry.

"Due to various issues associated with that.. that turned out not to be possible," said Misek-Evans. "So, the report, perhaps that councillor Boushy was referring to from last fall, was the re proposal to build the boat ramp in the wet."

This past spring, the city broke out the cost of the new ramp at $673,000, about 5% of the total $13.5-million Centennial Park remediation project.

The boat launch opened to the public for the Salmon Derby in April, with final paving of the parking lot in May.

The facility was in full use in June.

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