THUNDER BAY - With the water from Boulevard Lake drained due to the ongoing dam rehabilitation work, a city councilor wants to take advantage of the rare opportunity to do a little a cleaning.
During Monday night’s city council meeting, Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds presented a motion to ask city administration to prepare a report on cleaning up Boulevard Lake in the coming year.
“If you get a chance to go over there, it is barren. It is a different landscape,” Foulds said. “Tonight I would really appreciate council’s support in looking at a report to see at what can be done to clean up the bottom. If you do walk around Boulevard Lake, you will see garbage on the bottom of the lake. I’m really hopeful now that it’s empty there is an opportunity to do that.”
Boulevard Lake was drained in June to allow for work on the dam rehabilitation project, which includes the installation of mechanical gates.
Foulds also referred to tree debris on the north beaches that makes it dangerous for swimming, as well as significant organic matter on the bottom, namely goose droppings.
“There are a lot of competing interests,” Foulds added. “We can’t just send in 10 excavators. It’s not that easy. There are a number of different users, swimmers, recreational paddlers.”
When it comes to potentially dredging the lake bottom, Foulds referenced the Dragon Boat Races that used to take place at Boulevard.
“One of the challenges they had was in order to run provincial and national championships, there needs to be a uniform bottom,” he said.
Coun. Mark Bentz asked if the motion for a report was too broad in scope and if there is any way to refine the request.
“I understand the intent of Coun. Foulds request,” said Kayla Dixon, director of engineering and operations with the city of Thunder Bay. “It could be a two-part memo where we bring short term plans, and report back with long-term. Dredging would be long-term.”
Council voted unanimously to approve the motion and administration will return with a report on or before Sept. 28.
Work on the dam is expected to be completed by the end of 2021 but city engineers said it will not be necessary to keep the lake level down beyond this year.
