Victoria Street Water Tower Rehabilitation

August 25, 2023

The Town's contractor plans to continue application of the exterior coating on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. Anticipated working hours are 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the latest.

August 18, 2023

Exterior media blasting has been completed along with the application of the zinc primer. The Town's contractor is currently in the process of cleaning up the excess blast material and performing quality control inspections on the primer. Work will pause for the weekend of August 19-20, and then exterior coating application will continue the week of August 21. Elevated noise levels will continue until around the end of August as air compressors and other equipment are being used to complete the exterior coating application.

August 4, 2023

The Town's contractor will be pausing work for the long weekend, and restarting exterior media blasting on Tuesday, August 8. Following this weekend, work is expected to continue seven days a week until the exterior blasting and coating is completed. 

July 28, 2023

Due to unforeseen circumstances, exterior media blasting work will not start until Tuesday, August 1, 2023. No weekend work is expected to be completed this weekend.

July 25, 2023

The new interior coating and lining has been installed, and BGL Contractors is currently prepping for exterior media blasting to begin this week. The blasting process will create a significant amount of noise. This work will continue seven days a week for approximately 21 days. It has been recommended that this work be completed in a continuous, undisturbed manner to ensure a quality finish. Otherwise, there are risks of deficiencies arising that could possibly delay completion of the project.

July 6, 2023

BGL Contractors have completed making repairs to the interior of the water tank, and are currently in the process of applying the new interior coating. Crews have also begun installing the shrouding on the exterior of the scaffolding structure. This shrouding will be sealed to protect surrounding properties while the exterior coating is being removed. Exterior media blasting is scheduled to begin by mid to late July.

June 23, 2023

The rehabilitation of the Victoria Street Water Tower remains on schedule. Repairs to the interior of the tank have been completed, and BGL Contractors is currently applying the new interior coating. This work will continue throughout this weekend with daily hours from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the latest.

June 16, 2023

BGL Contractors has informed the Town that Dayson Industrial Services plans to continue work on the interior of the water tower on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Anticipated working hours are 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the latest.

June 9, 2023

The Victoria Street Water Tower rehabilitation work continues to proceed on schedule. The initial media blasting of the interior of the water tower tank has been completed. BGL is currently working on making repairs to the interior steel surface of the tank, and a third-party inspection agency will be inspecting the repairs during the week of June 12. Following favorable inspections, they will proceed to blast and prime the interior of the tank. Application of interior surface topcoat and the installation of the tarping to seal the exterior scaffold is scheduled to begin the week of June 19.

May 26, 2023

Please be advised that Dayson Industrial Services plans to continue media blasting work on the interior of the water tower this weekend on Saturday, May 27. Anticipated working hours are 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the latest.

May 19, 2023

Work on the Victoria Street Water Tower continues to progress well. The new rooftop guardrail has been installed, and BGL's subcontractor, Dayson Industrial Services, has arrived on site to begin preparation for stripping of the existing internal and external tower coatings. Interior media blasting is anticipated to begin following the Victoria Day long weekend. Residents surrounding the tower will experience sustained increases in noise caused by this work. No weekend work is expected at this time.

May 12, 2023

The rehabilitation of the Victoria Street Water Tower remains on schedule. The interior scaffolding is complete and the exterior scaffolding installation is nearing completion. A crane is scheduled to be onsite on May 15 to assist with the installation of the new rooftop guardrail. Tarping and sealing of the structure for lead abatement is scheduled to begin the week of May 22, with initial media blasting of the tank interior to start a week later on May 29.

May 1, 2023

The rehabilitation of the Victoria Street Water Tower is proceeding well. The Town has drained the water tower, which will allow contractors to begin the installation of interior scaffolding within the tower's tank. A crane is scheduled to be on site the week of May 7 to assist with the relocation of antennas and installation of new guardrail on top of the tower. Abrasive blasting of the interior of the tower is currently anticipated to begin in late May.

April 18, 2023

The Town's contractor has mobilized to the site, and has begun construction of the scaffolding structure around the water tower. This structure will extend to the top of the tower and will give workers a solid platform to work from throughout the project. It will also act as the supporting structure for the plastic shrouding that will be installed as part of the lead abatement procedures. For more information on the lead abatement procedures, check out the Frequently Asked Questions section on this page.

A Staff Report is also scheduled to be presented to the Town's Committee of the Whole on Tuesday, April 25 regarding this project. The report is being presented to provide background and inform Council of an authorized exemption for relief of the Town's Noise By-Law (2002-09) which will allow the Town’s contractor to work seven days a week from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. from May 1, 2023, to November 1, 2023.

View Staff Report

The Town has issued the Construction Notice for the rehabilitation of the Victoria Street Water Tower. This Notice has also been mailed to property owners within the immediate vicinity of the project site. Contractors will be on site the week of March 27 to begin minor excavation, with scaffolding installation anticipated to begin the week of April 4.

View Construction Notice

On behalf of BGL Contractors, representatives from OZA Inspections Ltd. will be completing pre-construction condition surveys on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 of all properties within 100 metres of the water tower. Formal notices have been hand delivered to all impacted properties.

The construction tender for the Victoria Street Water Tower Rehabilitation has closed, and BGL Contractors Corp. was the successful contractor. Mobilization for construction is anticipated to begin in April of this year. Construction Notices will be delivered to adjacent residents prior to mobilization, and more details will be released and posted to this page as they are available.

Staff Report FAF.22.167 was presented to the Town's Committee of the Whole at their meeting on Tuesday, November 29. The report asked for direction on the visual design that will be applied to the tower through the rehabilitation work. The Committee of the Whole directed staff to proceed with a white coating with "Thornbury" and "The Blue Mountains" lettering as depicted in Option #1 from Category #1. This direction will be confirmed at the Town Council meeting scheduled for December 12, 2022.

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This report was an updated version of the Staff Report that was presented at a previous committee meeting. Since it was originally presented, Town staff added more information on the following subjects:

Viewing Angles

It has been clarified that the lettering included in the designs for the water tower is proposed to be mirrored on the north and south sides of the water tower tank.

Community Design Submissions

At the beginning of the design process, staff discussed the option of soliciting designs from the local art community. Staff opted not to proceed with this direction as the project timeline did not allow for the time required to engage and solicit designs from the local art community in an equitable manner. Staff also felt it was unfair to request local artists to complete work for the Town with no guarantee of compensation.

Lead Abatement Procedure

Since the original presentation of this Report, CIMA+ has confirmed the presence of a lead-based primer on the water tower. Therefore, full lead abatement will be required on this project. The abrasive blasting work will require construction of a full scaffolding structure and shrouding around the water tower to facilitate the work. The scaffolding structure and shrouding will also protect the nearby residential properties and culturally significant homes located near the tower from contamination of lead chips, dust and grit. The presence of a lead-based primer on a tower of this vintage is not out of the ordinary, and the required lead abatement processes are common in rehabilitation projects of this type. Contractors that engage in this work are familiar with the mitigation measures, and the risk level of exposure is very low when these measures are in place.

View Full Report

The Town of The Blue Mountains would like to advise residents that CIMA Canada Inc. (CIMA+) has been retained to provide engineering services for the rehabilitation of the Victoria Street Water Tower.

Through this project, an opportunity was identified for the Town to explore new design options for the water tower. Taking inspiration from the winding waters of the Beaver River, the rolling waves of Georgian Bay and the vast green space of the Niagara Escarpment and Beaver Valley, the Town has produced a number of potential coating and design options for consideration. These designs were presented through Staff Report FAF.22.163 to the Town’s Committee of the Whole for consideration at their meeting on November 1, 2022.

View Staff Report

Committee of the Whole directed that consideration of the final design option be made by the new Town Council at the November 29, 2022 Committee of the Whole meeting. An updated Staff Report will be released along with the agenda for that meeting.

Lead-based paint was commonly used on structures through the 1980s and into the 1990s, and as a result, the presence of lead-based primer on a tower of this age is not out of the ordinary. To ensure safety during the stripping and recoating process, the plastic shrouding is a common practice in rehabilitation projects of this type. Contractors that engage in this work are experienced and familiar with the mitigation measures, and the risk level of exposure is very low when these measures are in place.

1. Containment - The abrasive blasting work to remove the existing primer and paint will require the installation of a full scaffolding structure and plastic shrouding around the entire water tower to facilitate the work. The scaffolding structure and shrouding will act as a barrier to contain any hazardous material, and protect nearby properties from contamination of paint chips, dust and grit.
2. Testing - Air monitoring stations will be installed around the construction site during the blasting process. The filter elements from each monitoring station will be sent for laboratory testing to ensure the containment is functioning as required. All workers who enter the shrouded structure during the blasting process will have their blood tested for lead exposure before and after the job, and workers will also exit the structure through a decontamination area.
3. Disposal - Tarps will be placed at the bottom of the enclosure to collect the waste created by the abrasive blasting process. All waste will be vacuumed up and tested to verify whether the amount of lead present is deemed hazardous or not. Any hazardous waste will be disposed of according to regulated guidelines.

The Town has engaged CIMA+ to provide consulting engineering services on this project. CIMA+ has been in business for more than 30 years, and has consulted on similar tower rehabilitation projects across Ontario, including multiple projects for the Municipality of Chatham-Kent.

The contractor has received an exemption from the Town's Noise By-law which will allow them to complete work from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. seven days a week. It is anticipated that they will only need to utilize weekend work sporadically over a period of 6-8 weeks while specialty tasks including media blasting to strip the existing coating, priming and new coating are being completed. 

The contractor has advised the Town that it is recommended that this work be completed in a continuous, undisturbed manner to ensure a quality finish. Otherwise, there are risks of deficiencies arising that could possibly delay completion of the project.

Industrial media blasting and vacuuming will be used to remove the tower’s existing coating. Noise from these processed can reach levels around 100 decibels at the source, which is similar to the volume of a lawn mower or motorcycle. The shrouding around the scaffolding structure will help to absorb and diffuse some of the noise, but this will still be a loud process.

Additional sources of noise will include generators, compressors, pumps and environmental control equipment used during the coating application process. In comparison to the blasting and vacuuming process, the coating application will be very quiet.

Based on the contractor’s preliminary construction schedule, the stripping, priming and coating work is expected to be completed between July and October. Work on weekends is only expected to be completed as required during this time period, and the contractor will make their best effort to complete work that creates less noise on the weekends.

While the tower is offline during the rehabilitation process, water for the community of Thornbury will be supplied by the existing Water Treatment Facility, distribution network and alternative storage reservoirs located on Grey Street and Camperdown Road.

To stay within project timelines, staff took the initiative to prepare a creative brief, list of design considerations, and series of designs that were reviewed and supported by the Town's Project Team, Communications Department and Senior Management Team. The designs take inspiration from the winding waters of the Beaver River, the rolling waves of Georgian Bay and the vast green space of the Niagara Escarpment and Beaver Valley. They also utilized colours from the Town’s brand colour palette of white, green and blue.

These designs were presented to the Town's Committee of the Whole for consideration at their meeting on November 29, 2022. The Committee directed staff to proceed with a white coating with "Thornbury" and "The Blue Mountains" lettering as depicted in Option #1 from Category #1.

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View Design Presentation