SCUGOG: Scugog council has deferred a Water Street construction project in Port Perry in order to fund work on Marsh Hill Road.
At a meeting on Monday, February 3rd, councillors saw a report, recommending the township move $220,000 in funding from the Water Street project, to fund a project which will see work done on Marsh Hill Road. The work covers the area from the south end of Epsom to Scugog Line 9, and rehab work on Byron Street from Marsh Hill Road to the west of Palace Street.
Scugog had the Marsh Hill Road project budgeted for $710,000, but once tenders came back, the township needed an additional $307,055 for the project. Ward 5 Councillor Lance Brown was concerned. “I just want to be assured and on the record as saying I’m concerned about moving money for a project that has to do with Water Street downtown because it needs it. It may not need it as badly as Marsh Hill because I do drive Marsh Hill too. I know what that road is like. I don’t know what kind of assurance you can give me that this won’t happen again,” he said.
Carol Coleman, Scugog’s Director of Public Works, Parks and Recreation, responded, stating the Water Street project will be reviewed for the 2021 capital budget. “It’s something that we know needs to be done. I don’t have any plans to push it out after that,” she explained.
Mayor Bobbie Drew said the staff’s recommendation has to do with the timeline for the Lake Scugog Enhancement Project. Councillors voted to take the gas tax funds from the Water Street project and move them to the Marsh Hill Road project, and to defer the Water Street project, which would have seen work done this year on a section of the downtown street from Highway 7A to Queen Street, to 2021. The remaining necessary funds of about $87,000 will come from the roads reserve. Council had budgeted $440,000 for the Water Street project.
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