Victoria Street Water Tower Rehabilitation

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.

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.

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