ROSSPORT — Boaters can still access the docking facilities at Rossport’s harbour as planned renovations to the decades-old dock that were slated to temporarily close the facility are on hold for now.
The Rossport Harbour Not-Profit Marina Inc. announced in April that the North Shore town’s marina would close for 10 weeks beginning July 2 for work to refurbish the facility. This summer’s work, according to a media release issued in April, was slated to remove the east-west section of the dock, stabilize the remaining portion, underpin the marina building, repair the boat launch and install a new foundation for the launch dock.
The not-for-profit received funding from a number of sources, said Catherine Collinson, the organization’s president and chair, but when they put the project out to tender, quoted costs came back “almost double the amount of money that our grants had come to.”
“To put almost a million dollars into something that, to remediate it or make it usable, we decided as a board that that wasn't a really good use of taxpayer dollars,” she said, referring to the current project basically being a short-term retrofit until an entirely new dock could be built in the near future.
“So, we decided as a board to meet with our funders and talk about other options and … there were some other things included in that application, including (fixing) the launch and a few other things,” Collinson continued.
“We're just currently in discussions with the funders about changing our focus from the bigger project to a smaller project that still utilizes the funds we have available now, while at the same time exploring options for a totally new dock.”
Collinson said the goal is to use their approved funds in the “most responsible manner.”
The east-west section of the dock (the part that runs parallel to the shoreline) has been closed off to boaters for a couple of seasons now, she said, and it was its listing and noticeable deterioration that led to a structural assessment. That probe found that the dock was beyond its usable lifespan.
Boaters can still access the north-south section, Collinson said.
“Services are still running, the launch is still running, all of that is still happening,” she said.
The structure used to be owned by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and was turned over to local authorities in the mid-1990s.
The marina group has been eyeing a variety of upgrades to the lakefront facility for several years now. Rossport’s harbour is in the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area.
“It's one of the few deep protected harbours along the north shore of the lake that's easily accessible to the lake,” Collinson said.
“It's an absolute gem and deserves support.”
