Bristol pier could reopen this summer
K.C. Jordan, LJI Journalist
A new report on the Bristol pier presented at council on Apr. 7 says the Norway Bay landmark could be reopened for public use this summer if the municipality completes work to meet certain environmental specifications.
Last March, the municipal council decided to keep the popular summer spot closed for the entirety of 2024 after the results of a report from engineering firm Baird and Associates showed the pier was structurally unsound and recommended its closure.
Bristol councillor Valerie Twolan-Graham said a more in-depth report since ordered by the municipality, this time done by WSP, a Quebec engineering firm more familiar with requirements from the province’s environment ministry, had a more favourable result.
“We had much more in-depth information than we were able to get with the first report,” she said, adding that the new report provides interim fixes that can be made to bring the pier back up to specifications so it can remain open in the meantime while the municipality explores a longer-term fix.
Twolan-Graham said the municipality did not have much time to commission the first report, the results of which were received in Mar. 2024. “The decision was made just a couple of months before our summer program would open, so we’ve had more time to look at it. WSP was able to build on the assessment that Baird gave us,” she said.
She said so long as the municipality meets the report’s recommendations, including fixing sinkholes along the walkway and modifying ladders along the pier’s edge to meet specifications, the pier could welcome traffic as early as this season.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that we’re going to be able to get that done and in place to be able to open it, to have a somewhat normal summer,” Twolan-Graham said, adding that the municipality must now go back to the firm to determine exactly what specs must be met and how much it will cost to meet them.
She said they must hurry if they are to have the pier open for the summer season.
“I think we also know we’ve got a short period of time,” she said, adding that people are usually out using the pier by mid-June. “I don’t have a timeline, but we’re hopeful we’d have the pier open for rather normal activities.”
Permanent fix still needed
Last July, Bristol council accepted a recommendation from a pier advisory committee that the best way to preserve the 70-year-old pier was by installing a rock revetment along the pier’s edge to reinforce it. Twolan-Graham said this must still happen eventually, but the results of the new report give them more time to decide on a more permanent fix.
“We believe we know what we have to do to open it for the summertime and get a couple of years out of it, and then move toward the more permanent fix to make sure the pier is safe to use.”
Pier advisory committee member Terry Kiefl, who owns a cottage in Norway Bay, said the initial $700,000 estimate for the rock revetment was an underestimate that did not include all costs.
“That was just a very, very rough cut to see if rock revetment worked,” he said. “We don’t even know that the rocks that were specced are the right rocks they would need,” he said, adding that he estimated the work would cost over $2 million total.
Twolan-Graham added that the municipality secured several streams of funding from various sources, including a grant from the MRC last year to cover the cost of assessments and surveys, an FRR grant received last year, as well as money in the 2025 budget earmarked for costs associated with the pier.
“It’s a long process to get to the next step because whatever option we choose is going to be an expensive one,” she said.
Kiefl said the committee will meet on Apr. 19 to begin discussing how to address short-term fixes as well as to begin planning for the future, adding that the decision will be expensive but also an investment for the future.
“You’re looking at that money over a hundred years [ . . . ] there’s a lot of activity that goes into that over a hundred years.”
Kiefl said his kids and now grandkids have used the pier for summer swimming lessons, among other things, adding that the committee will be working hard to find the right solution to make the pier sustainable.
“We all need to pull together. We’re a small community, this is a big project for us,” he said. “It’s an asset used by a lot more than just Bristol township. My cottage is right beside the pier, people land from all over the place, including the other side of the river.”
Twolan-Graham said as a community member having the pier open and functioning just feels right.
“Having the pier open just makes our municipality sort of complete. We see visitors from every municipality imaginable, but for us we’re able to put our boats in, fish, stroll on the pier, take our swimming lessons, do all the stuff that makes that a hub of our community,” she said.
Twolan-Graham said the municipality is not sure what kind of funding it will have access to for the long-term fix, but given the limited budget of the municipality they will have to “get creative” to pay for it.
For the moment, she said, it is “good news” the pier can still be open in the meantime, and was pleased to announce the municipality had secured a new 25-year lease from the provincial government for the use of the pier.
THE EQUITY reached out to Bristol’s municipal inspector Marjorie Groulx-Tellier for specifics, but did not hear back before going to print. Twolan-Graham said Groulx-Tellier has reached out to the liaison at WSP to find out exactly what must be done.
“From what I understand, he’s been on holiday. So it’s just a matter of waiting until we have some directors about the fabrication of the ladders.”
Twolan-Graham said even with a limited amount of time before the summer season, she remains cautiously optimistic they will get the work done in time.
“I’m not worried that we’re not going to be able to make the ladders safe and the sinkholes fixed, because we have done work in terms of sinkhole maintenance over the years.”
The pier committee will meet this weekend with the municipal inspector and members of council to begin thinking over which permanent solutions they will consider.
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