MOUNT FOREST – The rehabilitation of Cork Street is moving forward, as Wellington North awarded the $964,000 contract for the work Monday night.
It helps pave the way for the 141-unit hosing project in the area.
At a cost of $964,319, council awarded the Cork Street tender to Lavis Contracting Co. Ltd.
During the tender approval process, Coun. Sherri Burke offered her support for the process before asking what steps council can take to improve the budget to tender process.
“I hate to be negative but, if this project goes over significantly, where does that leave us with the rest of our tendered projects?” said Burke.
Also approved by council during the meeting, the project's budget increased by $87,298.
“My question is more of a general one because I do understand the significance of getting this project done,” said Burke. “But (our tendered projects) seem like they continue to exceed their projected budgets…(and) I suspect if this one is, (others will too).”
Running from Princess Street to Waterloo Street, the restoration improves access to the area for John Welton Custom Homebuilding's proposed residential development in the area.
A mixture of single and semi-detached lots, street townhouses, and a cluster townhouse block spanning 24 acres behind the Mount Forest District Sports Complex, traffic will flow directly onto Cork Street.
“We were anticipating there might be some challenges this year in terms of cost overruns,” said CAO Brooke Lambert.“I think it’s important that we be transparent about the costs which is why we’re approving this (increase) at this time.”
According to Lambert, the town’s current approach is year-round monitoring and analysis but an update on all capital project budgets will return to a council meeting in the summer.
“(This way) we can kind of give you a sense of where things are at and if we do need to adjust, we will have time to,” said Lambert. “But you’re right, we’re going to need to look at that and evaluate and monitor so that when we’re bringing our next budget forward, we can take into account where things are landing.”
Mayor Andy Lennox supported a contingency plan going forward.
“This looks like the right decision to make,” said Lennox. “Unfortunately we don’t like to receive these budget increases but at least we’re equipped to be able to handle it.”
Lennox also shared his excitement that the developers chose "such historic names" for the three new streets within the development; Chaloner Street, Carnegie Road, and Yeomans Street, which were also approved during the meeting.
The town's road naming policy asks that “whenever possible, the naming or re-naming of roads in the Township will be determined by reference to the surnames of local pioneer families in the vicinity of the proposed development or existing road; the names of prominent current and/or former residents who contributed through community involvement / athletic / business acumen."
According to the report, Richard Chaloner had the first blacksmithing business in Mount Forest before 1853 to cater to the increasing horse traffic along Garafraxa Road. He also set up the petition for the surveying of the lots so that settlement could begin.
Andrew Carnegie was a "highly influential" philanthropist and businessman who dedicated much of his life and self-made fortune to his strong belief in free education, creating 2,509 public libraries around the world. In total, he spent $2,556,600 on the construction of 111 libraries in Ontario, one of which is located in Mount Forest.
The Yeomans family was "one of the most affluent and powerful families in town." David Yeomans built a mill, Dr. Horace Yeomans was a physician, and Lawrence Yeomans was a very well-respected chemist on Main Street in 1859, and his daughter, Alpha or Allie became the first female pharmacist in Ontario in 1902.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
