Council approves erosion repairs

By Mark Ribble

LEAMINGTON — Leamington council has approved approximately $550,000 in spending to help with erosion protection in five areas throughout the municipality, and has directed administration to send out tenders for the work.

The shoreline protection will deal with making much needed armourstone installation along the shoreline.

The first area of concern is the north face of the Road 1 dyke within the Hillman Marsh complex. There are 17 locations along the dyke that required attention and that work has been completed under the drainage act.

The second area to be worked on is a small municipally owned property between 228 and 238 Cotterie Park Rd. Currently a row of armourstone is protecting the roadway from any further erosion, but administration felt that another row of armourstone out in the water would reduce wave damage to the existing armourstone and thus provide better protection to the road.

The third area is the corner of Fox Run Rd. and Pulley Rd, where a small bridge goes over the lake water entering into the drainage ditches. The Atwell Drain empties into Lake Erie at this point. Armourstone will be added to the shoreline to better protect the bridge and roadway.

This drone photo, taken by East Shore resident Wayne King, shows the breach in the Hillman Marsh northeastern shoreline. The end of East Beach Road is eroding into the lake. The Municipality of Leamington has decided to take measures to mitigate the damage in five different areas of the municipality.

The fourth area involves the northwest corner of the Leamington Marina basin, where erosion is beginning to show. Wave action has caused the corner to erode and administration wants to get a handle on it before it gets too serious.

The fifth, and most urgent area of concern is the end of East Beach Rd., where the Hillman barrier beach has disappeared over the past few months, creating a breach into Hillman Marsh and threatening not only the East Beach Rd., but other areas in the vicinity.

The armourstone added here will account for $340,000 of the projected $550,000 in total, and will require strategically placed armourstone to mitigate the damage at that spot.

Leamington CAO Peter Neufeld pointed out that this is not a permanent fix, but a short-term solution and that council will eventually have to look seriously at the sustainability of that eastern shoreline.

The motion was passed unanimously.