Municipal staff are requesting that council expand the scope and cost of a municipal class environmental assessment for Talbot Trail.
A staff report coming to council on Monday night recommends that $201,422 be added to the environmental assessment request for proposal, equalling an amended total project cost of $421,038.
At a December 2019 council meeting, a report was approved regarding the request for proposal for the Talbot Trail Municipal Class Environmental Assessment at a cost of $219,615, which was awarded to BT Engineering Inc.
The environmental assessment for Talbot Trail was initiated in early 2020 to consider alternatives for either the rehabilitation of the existing corridor to address the issue of road failure or for the road realignment that would offset Talbot Trail from the zone of shoreline erosion.
According to the latest report, the initial study focused on the immediate need for areas with slope failure, including shoreline from approximately Zion Road to Port Road, which includes the failure location just east of Coatsworth Road.
The recommendation to approve the amended contract will allow the BT Engineering to extend the study area from Port Road to east of County Road 12. This will allow for the consideration of connections to the east that connect to Blenheim and neighbouring communities.
Talbot Trail Environmental Assessment Map (Courtesy Municipality of Chatham-Kent)
"In these areas the zone of failure has increased since the release of the request for proposal," read the report. "In addition, the completion of the Lake Erie Shoreline study has now identified the limits of shoreline failure will extend easterly to Erieau. The Shoreline Study was completed following the award of the request for proposal to BT Engineering and now that the study is complete, the scope of work is therefore recommended to increase"
A community meeting was held with members of the public and stakeholders to review the issues involved with the project. According to the report, the public identified a need to determine a long-term solution for the entire Lake Erie shoreline where erosion is or will be occurring. To do so would require consideration of the shoreline easterly to Cedar Springs.
Staff said that expanding the limits of the study area will help determine a solution for the entire Talbot Trail corridor, avoid environmentally piece-mealing the projects, allow the municipality to protect the plans if future land development occurs and consider a solution for connections between adjacent communities.
"The proposed study approach will now be to define the long-range plan for a new Talbot Trail that will accommodate the 100-year shoreline erosion associated with climate change," the report stated. "This will ensure that the recommendations allow a phased implementation of an overall plan."
The engineering services associated with this project are to be funded through the lifecycle roads budget.
