The Municipality of Kincardine has awarded the tender for Phase 1 of the Station Beach Boardwalk reconstruction, so that crews can get underway with the work.
Municipal staff originally put out a request for bids in August for the project that consists of rebuilding a 430 metre-stretch of the boardwalk, but none were received.
After soliciting bids from six companies, only one was received. It was from Allen-Hastings Ltd, a company out of Chesley which quoted around $920,000 for the project. Council had originally budgeted $750,000 for the work.
Councillor Bill Stewart said it wasn't ideal, but they needed to move on getting work started.
"Unfortunately, this is going to up the cost of a project that we thought was going to be $750,000, now it's $900,000," he said. "It needs to be done, I'm going to have to support this tonight, because I want to see this boardwalk finished. I don't know if we can delay it another year or two."
The work includes reconstructing the boardwalk with a concrete and wooden design, replacing the boardwalk lighting system, and changes to the orientation of the boardwalk that will move sections away from the dunes toward the parking area.
Staff did propose ways to scale back the cost of the Phase 1 reconstruction so that it matched the budgeted $750,000 cost. Those options included reducing the scope and eliminating up to 150 metres of boardwalk reconstruction until Phase 2. Council opted to stick with the initial plan with the new price tag.
Apporving the tender at Wednesday's meeting means work can commence this fall and will continue so long as the winter conditions will allow.
Councillor Beth Blackwell said the reconstruction was something they needed to move on with a lot of projects on tap for 2026.
"There's a number of significant construction projects we have planned for spring ready at this point, so any work that we can done now on this and in preparation to hopefully have it ready for the long weekend in May, would be benficial, just in terms of it being such a signficant community asset and also a tourism driver," she said.
The target completion date is mid-May of next year.
