Goldie Mill Park remains open for public events, including nine scheduled weddings this summer, says Mario Petricevic, Guelph’s general manager, facilities management.
“There is a small area around the old chimney that has been fenced off for public safety and that’s it,” he said in an email response to questions.
A geotechnical investigation found that there are “poor soils conditions” in the areas tested, including some environmental contamination. He said the extent of the contamination won’t be known until the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) completes an investigation.
“Until we get the results back from the environmental investigation it’s hard to say whether the problem is a serious one or not,” he wrote.
The GRCA owns the property and has a maintenance agreement with the City of Guelph, GRCA manager of communications Lisa Stocco said this week. It is a city responsibility to remedy any problems.
Petricevic said if there are no major issues related to environmental conditions in the area it will be an easy fix.
“We remove the existing asphalt and soil in the area of the sink holes and replace it with appropriate granular materials, properly compact it, and put a new layer of asphalt on the pathway and patch the grassed areas around it,” he said.
However, if there are environmental concerns then the scope of the work would include removing the contaminated materials.
In the absence of environmental concerns the remediation work would happen in the spring or summer of 2017, he added.
“If there are environmental concerns I would expect the work to take up most of the summer and perhaps into the fall of 2017, pending the extent and available budget to address the clean-up,” he added in the email.
