The Riverside Dam in Preston - Date/Photographer unknown.

3 November 2012

Riverside Dam Fate May Not be Decided Until 2013

Preston Ontario - A "Save the Dam" sign flapped in winds gusting through Riverside Park in Preston this week.
 
It could be flapping on that Eagle Street fence for months.
 
The fate of the crumbling but beloved Riverside Park dam is nowhere near being decided.
 
Originally, a draft report and study on the 122-year-old structure was due this month. Now, it could be 2013 before the options come before the public and city council, according to the city's engineering director.
 
"Due to the sensitive political nature of the project, the study team has undertaken a detailed background data collection effort in order to develop an appropriate series of alternatives," Kealy Dedman said in an email.
 
"We also have some outstanding meetings with regulatory agencies, such as the Ministry of Natural Resources."
 
One pricey alternative is replacing the dam, which could cost up to $8 million.
 
Tearing it down may streamline the Speed River flow and make for a healthier waterway, but the idea tears at the heart of generations of Cambridge residents.
 
Many see enormous sentimental and esthetic value in the fat mill pond created by the dam.
 
"The dam makes a nice big pond there," said Mary Hudgin, a resident of nearby Duke Street who hung her own "Save the Dam" sign on the front of her home during the summer months.
 
"It's the character it gives Riverside Park."
 
Removing the disintegrating dam, which now places the Toyota-moving railway tracks it guards in danger of being washed out, might cost less than $1 million.
 
Or there may be some option in between that could keep everybody happy.
 
Hudgin, who has lived in Preston for 40 years off and on, hopes the beauty of the pond and the calming sound of the water rushing over the dam will be preserved for her and her teenage daughters.
 
"It's really pretty," she said.
 
And its future may not be decided in 2013.
 
Jeff Hicks.