Motion seeks to kickstart Waverly Beach reconstruction project

In the eyes of Fort Erie’s mayor, six years is more than long enough to wait for the reconstruction of the Waverly Beach walkway.

Wayne Redekop’s motion from the February 24 council meeting calls on the Town to push the project forward and begin reconstruction by the end of this year.

“(There has been) a lack of a sense of urgency for the reconstruction of this walkway, which is a high profile site in the Town of Fort Erie,” he said, as he introduced the motion.

A storm on Halloween night in 2019 demolished the walkway that runs along Lake Erie.

Since that time the municipality has received provincial funding through the Municipal Disaster Relief Program to rebuild the walkway. However, work has been delayed.

Redekop’s motion acknowledged delays revolving around the COVID-19 pandemic, but he also said it’s high time to move past those issues.

“I don’t want to be paralyzed by the fact we’re considering a whole bunch of possibilities when we had a perfectly good location,” he said.

Redekop’s motion calls for design work on the reconstruction of the walkway to begin, with the original profile being the preferred location and the design keeping as close to that as possible.

It also calls for necessary additional structural reinforcement to be considered “to ensure the sustainability and resilience of the reconstructed walkway,” the motion said.

That extra work may cost the Town money, something Redekop acknowledged in his remarks.

His motion called on staff to have the project ready for tendering “as soon as possible, and no later than September 15, 2025.”

That would allow for reconstruction to begin before the end of the year, his motion said.

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