pier

Community Association ‘desperately playing catch-up’ following announcementof pier closure

Local Journalism Initiative / The Equity / March 13, 2024 / Camilla Faragalli, Norway Bay, pier

Camilla Faragalli, LJI Reporter

The Norway Bay Municipal Association (NBMA) is scrambling to find solutions following the news that the Municipality of Bristol will close the Norway Bay pier while it assesses how best to restore it to a safe condition.

The association, which provides recreational, cultural and social activities to both children and adults during the summer months, relies on the pier for its programming, especially for its intermediate and advanced-level swimming lessons.

“The Norway Bay swimming lessons have been going on for decades and decades, and our docks are there but we can’t attach them to the pier this summer because it’s been closed,” said the NBMA’s president president, Patrick Byrne.
Byrne told THE EQUITY that the association is considering building a replacement dock structure to enable lessons in the deeper water, but that finding the funds to do so before the summer season will be challenging.

“The concern we have would be the timeline, given that we only really found out Monday for sure that it [the pier] is closed,” Byrne said.
“We’re desperately playing catch up on that front. We don’t know yet what might be available. We are starting that exploration as we speak.”
Byrne explained that the association will need to figure out what to build, have the plan approved, and then find government funding for the project – an application process he says could take months.
“We are going to try and exhaust any and all of the available opportunities, which would be MRC, or provincial funding, or possibly even federal funding,” he said, adding that he’s spoken with Jane Toller and had extensive conversations with Bristol councillor Valerie Twolan-Graham on the subject.
The decision to close the 70-plus-year-old pier came after the municipal council received a final report from an engineering firm that investigated its structural integrity last fall.

The report found the pier to be in poor condition, partially as a result of significant flooding in recent years, and recommended it be closed for the 2024 season.
While Byrne did not downplay the impact the closure will have on the community, he said that the wide range of programming offered by the NBMA, including canoeing, kayaking, field sports, tennis, basketball, theatre arts and swimming lessons, will still be available.
“The introductory [swimming] programs that we’ve done on the beach will continue this summer, that’s not going to be impacted,” he added.

Byrne said that typically, the NBMA would have already begun the hiring process to staff the instructor positions for those lessons, but that it has not done so yet as it is currently unclear how many of the lessons will go ahead.

Byrne added that he fears the high school and university students usually hired to fill those roles will find summer employment elsewhere. “It’s triggering a lot of urgency on our part,” he said.

A community facility

Members of the Norway Bay community are reeling following the announcement of the closure.
“It [the pier] was the social hub of the community. Having it closed for the summer is going to be devastating,” local resident Jamie Armstrong told THE EQUITY.

“It’s the one spot where everybody congregated,” Armstrong explained. “Everybody goes down there for sunsets, they fish, they swim, it’s where everyone comes in [by boat]… It’s just sad to see.”
Britney Gauthier, also a resident of Norway Bay, agreed.
“I think the whole community has some strong feelings [about the closure],” she said.
“So many use it for evening walks, swimming and more. Every elementary grad or large event, that’s where we went for pictures – my family, anyways. It’s a staple in the community and I’m hoping they get it fixed and back to its original glory.”

Byrne said that the pier and the docks, which are used by children and adults from across the Pontiac, have been around “forever” and are “not really a NBMA facility, [but] a community facility.”
“Anyone in Shawville is well-aware of the pier and has probably been there quite a few times,” he said.
“We need funding, and help. So in terms of the community outreach, I think we may be trying to lean on folks beyond the immediate Norway Bay community.”

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Norway Bay pier closed for 2024

Local Journalism Initiative / The Equity / March 6, 2024 / Norway Bay, pier, Sophie Kuijper Dickson

Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Reporter

The Municipality of Bristol has decided to keep the Norway Bay pier closed for the entirety of the 2024 season. The beach and boat launch will remain open.
The decision came after council received the final report from an engineering firm that investigated the structural integrity of the pier last fall.
The report found the pier to be in poor condition and recommended it be closed for the season, according to Bristol mayor Brent Orr.

“Once we got the report we were obligated to close it up until the repairs are made,” Orr told
THE EQUITY following the Mar. 4 council meeting where the report was received.
The municipality’s insurance company also recommended full closure of the pier to ensure no injuries occur.
Orr said municipal employees would be asked to remove the docks from the pier and erect a fence barring access, adding that while it was too early to say for how long the pier would be closed, the plan is to repair it and not to tear it down.
“It’s just a matter of how and when,” he said.

Valerie Twolan-Graham, Bristol councilor for the Norway Bay community, noted the significant impact this closure would have on usual summer activity programming and life in general in Norway Bay and said she had already been in contact with the Norway Bay Municipal Association regarding the decision.
“They are well aware and are trying to come up with a backup plan,” Twolan-Graham assured.

‘Beyond its best before date’

Orr said the main issue affecting the structural integrity of the pier is that the water has rusted holes through the sheet piles, the metal supports that line its sides.
He said the municipality repaired these holes years ago by welding patches on, but the repair job is no longer holding up.
“The life expectancy of the pier was probably 50 years when they built it, so it’s well beyond its best before date.”

The pier, which is over 70 years old, has sustained several floods in recent years which caused significant damage.
Orr explained that as the water wears at the side of the pier, it washes the sand out from under the pier, which causes the interlock on the pedestrian walkway, usually supported by the sand, to form sinkholes.
The report suggested two options for repairing the pier. The first is to drive in new piling, creating a second wall next to the original wall and filling in the space between the two with sand.
The second option presented in the report is to build out slanted walls against the current walls of the pier, but Orr said this option would not work for the community as it would interfere with the ability to attach floating docks to the side of the pier.

The repairs could cost anywhere in the range of $3 million to $6 million.
Orr said the municipality has its regular repair maintenance budget, including about $100,000 for pier repairs, which he referred to as but “a drop in the bucket” when it comes to the massive cost of the needed repairs.
“The funding will be one of the major, major stumbling blocks we will have to endure,” he said.

Pier committee to assess best path forward

The municipality will establish a pier committee which will have a mandate of doing an in-depth study of the report, preparing recommendations to council for how best to move forward, and leading the way on all fundraising efforts, including grant writing.

Councillor Twolan-Graham said while at least seven community members have volunteered to sit on the committee, she intends to extend the invite to all interested, not only residents of Norway Bay.
“It’s a sobering kind of project but one I know our community feels deeply connected with,” Twolan-Graham said. The municipality is welcoming applications by people with all sorts of relevant experience, including engineering, construction, human resources, fundraising, and administration.
“And just people who want it reconstructed because it’s where they fished with their grandson,” Twolan-Graham emphasized. The new pier committee is expected to be formed and holding its first meetings by April.

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