Windsor's Lakeview Park Marina should be back in business by next year's boating season.
City council has approved spending $3-million to replace the marina docks, which have been closed for the season due to safety concerns caused by record high water levels.
Corporate Leader for Parks, Recreation and Culture Facilities, Jan Wilson says they'll be tearing out the stationary docks.
"We'll be moving toward replacing them with floating docks. This will mitigate the issues with rising or falling waters going forward," she says. "So I think that's a great solution for our community and the use of the Lakeview Park Marina."
Higher than usual water levels at Lakeview Park Marina during high winds in April, 2019. (Photo submitted by Andy Breschuk/Windsor)
In May, officials decided to close the 200 recreational boat slips for the entire season as they were deemed unsafe — costing the city an estimated $300,000 in revenue.
Wilson says the docks are 39-years-old and typically only last for about 40 years.
"We actually had planned to do the dock work on a phased approach," she says. But with the unusual year that we're having and the need for the closure of the entire facility because of the water levels, what council did was really accelerate that plan and are allowing us to proceed and do all of the docks this year."
Wilson says the goals is to have the marina reopened for the 2020 boating season.
"We'll be bringing on our consultant to help us with the proper design," she says. "We want to maximize the slips that can be used on these new docks. We would then proceed to go out to tender for the work. We do anticipate that it will take the full season to do this work and be open for the 2020 season."
The fuel docks and launch ramps will remain open this boating season and tours to Peche Island will continue as long as water levels and safety permit.