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Township seeks funding to address shoreline erosion on Amherst Island

Municipal building in background with two township workers working on grounds
The Odessa Municipal Office where Loyalist Township Council Meetings are held. Photo by Ted Evans
Ted Evans - CJAI - Stella • ON | 04-07-2023
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Loyalist Township is looking for financial support to help with shoreline erosion on Amherst Island.

Council put forth a grant application for the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF) at their June 26 meeting. The DMAF is administered by Infrastructure Canada, and is designed to mitigate current and future climate-related risks and disasters. Such disasters can be triggered by natural hazards such as floods, wildland fires, droughts and seismic events.

The township recently received a report completed by Baird Engineering that provided an analysis of existing shoreline erosion on Amherst Island adjacent to shoreline road, and recommended a prioritized list of repairs for the township to focus on.

  • Front Road (west end of the island)
  • Front Road (Emerald)
  • Third Concession (Amherst Bay)
  • South Shore Road (east end of the island)

The total estimated costs at this time are approximately $6.5 million. Based on the grant allowing projects to occur over multiple years, staff have developed a program to complete construction of the sites in a nine year sequences, which would be permitted by the grant.

Coun. Paul Proderick noted the importance of dealing with erosion quickly.

"I'm a big fan of getting infrastructure attacked as aggressively as possible so that we're not dealing with emergency situations," said Proderick.

The DMAF provides funding with the goal of helping Canadian communities at risk of infrastructure failure. These types of issues, including shoreline erosion, could lead to:

  • Threats to health and safety
  • Threats to critical infrastructure, including interruptions in essential services
  • Significant disruptions in economic activity
  • Increasingly high costs for repair, recovery and/or replacement

Infrastructure Canada would provide funding up to 40 per cent of total eligible project costs, with the township required to contribute the remaining amount. If the funding application is successful, staff will bring a workplan forward and ask council to consider the project for pre-budget approval.

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