Construction on a new $9.3-million water treatment plant in Blind River should get underway next spring, providing necessary capacity for a long-awaited industrial park to proceed.
“We’re anticipating starting next March or April, running lines up the streets and beginning site preparation this year,” says Mayor Bob Gallagher.
Kresin Engineering Corp. of Sault Ste. Marie and consultant Jim Harmar are preparing the design concept with tenders for construction to be put out this spring.
Gallagher says the two-year process has seen the project’s price tag jump by $2 million due to inflation and the spate of provincial infrastructure
upgrading projects stemming from Ontario’s post-Walkerton drinking water regulations.
The federal and provincial governments combined with the municipality to each contribute one-third project funding with the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund picking up half of the Town of Blind River’s portion, now down to about $1.5 million.
The 528-acre industrial park property, situated on the eastern outskirts of town close to Highway 17 and nearby rail access, will be designed to accommodate both light and heavy industrial uses.
The first stage of development is underway, with surveying work on individual lots still to be done.
The municipality purchased the bush lot property from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ontario Realty Corp. for $150,000 and allocated more than $400,000 to extend water service and a development road into the site, says Gallagher.
So far, the town has 16 one-acre lots available with water and road access. Power connections will be made shortly. The park’s access road, which swings parallel to the highway, will connect with Woodward Avenue in town and should provide an alternate cross-route for heavy equipment and emergency vehicles. In terms of attracting tenants, Gallagher freely admits, “We’d take almost anything we can get.”
The town of 6,000 has been in economic limbo since the early 1990s.
