Directions of flow -- or its exact meandering path -- will be modified
Dynex Construction won the bid and the work begins in September
By
Mark Schadenberg
Southside Park is a true gem in Woodstock. Sure it has 3 (ball) diamonds,
but soon hopefully the sparkle will return to Cedar Creek as it traces its path
through the park.
If the Canada Day fireworks display doesn’t make the park sparkle, the
main attraction to Southside Park annually is Cowapolooza – set for Aug. 12 -13
with a free concert by Colin James in the natural amphitheatre of the so-called
toboggan hill on Saturday, Aug. 13. Southside Park shines during Cowapolooza.
More on www.cowapolooza.ca in a
future post.
Southside Park has evolved over the years certainly and is currently the
home of Southside Pool and its splash pad, the lawn bowling club, cricket club,
fully-accessible playground, Navy Cadets building, concrete skateboard course,
beach volleyball court, two covered pavilions and the adjoining seniors centre
known as South Gate Centre.
The evolution of Southside Park will take a few more turns this autumn as
the re-construction and to some degree the re-direction of Cedar Creek through
the park will commence. It’s not a major variation – only an improvement
necessary after many years of erosion of the riverbanks and the inevitable
deposit of sediments. The river must flow (sounds like a Carly Simon song) and
there must be little or no flooding both upstream, and downstream from the
park. Also, water quality for fish and other animals is also a must.
The Cedar Creek, which eventually runs into the Thames River at the west
end of Woodstock at Dundas Street (Highway 2), will have a shift to its
meandering direction, but will still end up at the same destination – a modest
bridge on Finkle Street and continue its trek down to the intersection of Mill
and Main streets, across the street from the bowling alley, and then westward
behind the Chuckwagon Restaurant.
If you look at the banks of the river in the park today, and if you talk
to some long-time residents, they would indicate that the retaining walls of
the creek were built by re-purposing old sidewalks.
The creek will flow better after its rehab is complete.
A recent story in the Woodstock Sentinel-Review quoted city engineer
Harold deHaan about the project.
“(The
construction process) will be taking out the vertical retaining walls to create
a defined low-flow channel with wider banks for when flows are increased, for
example the spring,” deHaan said. “There will be deeper, calmer pool areas, as
well as more turbulent areas to increase oxygen.”
As
I’m chair of the Woodstock Recreation Advisory Committee, I certainly recall at
least two public meetings about three years ago where many possibilities and
conjured plans were perused and debated.
At
one point there was preliminary discussion about just letting the pond
gradually return to its original state of being essentially a marshland. As we
all know, the filtration of water by nature is best done by naturalization of
the area such as tall grasses on riverbanks, and shorelines of the pond. This
is one of the reasons why – in my opinion – the quality of water is so bad
through Southside Park is that upstream includes many farms and also two golf
courses, and no one wants high grasses on a golf course as you might lose a
ball.
The
City of Woodstock tender process referred to the first phase on Cedar Creek as
the ‘Channel Restoration’. The deadline for contractors to submit a proposal or
bid (on Contract #13526) was April 5.
The
long-term plan includes a major dredging of the Southside Park pond, which will
create a deeper channel between the Parkinson Road bridge and the park’s
island. There was talk at one point that the sediments removed from the main pond
would be toxic and therefore an additional cost would be required to find a
place to move this ‘dirty dirt’, but I understand there will be no
environmental issues with this excavated material.
During
the Cedar Creek construction this fall, part of Southside Park will be closed
with safety fencing.
The
company winning the contract -- among 3 bids in total received – was Dynex
Construction from Concord. If you like pictures of retaining walls, waterways,
babbling brooks, and large rocks inside mesh, check out their website as noted
below.
When
the 3-phase process is complete, Southside Park will be enhanced for today and
tomorrow. The gem should sparkle even more. The improvements will also be
positive for wildlife such as amphibians.
The
only negative is that the pedestrian bridge (about mid way from the
car/pedestrian bridge and Finkle) will be permanently removed.
As
WRAC chair, you will note I do save the preliminary reports and motions to city
council as they are circulated.
It
is interesting to sift through the list of tenders and bids on the City
website. For example, the deadline for a qualified contractor to bid on the
rehab of the outdoor basketball court in Dutton Park on Algonquin Road (Beside the
Algonquin school property) is July 28. The City has two priorities in all bids
– hire the best qualified company, so the lowest bid doesn’t always win.
When
you’re driving around Woodstock, be sure to visit Park Row Park on Park Row street
and see the impressive basketball and pickleball courts there.
LINKS:
www.thamesriver.on.ca
Letter To The Editor by me in 2012:
More Archives:
1998 Upper Thames study
Mark Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
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