Inside a packed chamber, members of the Saint Andrews council voted six to one in favour of sending the design for market square and wharf to tender.
A number of residents were not allowed inside the chamber due to capacity issues, with some watching on a laptop in the parking lot.
The market wharf and square design is about 4,500 square feet and involves adding armour stone to the shoreline and raising the market square up one metre. In 2019, the municipality received funding from the federal government – with the added requirement it mitigate climate change.
Council said it has been working toward this project for seven years and through multiple compositions of the council.
At the outset, Coun. Kurt Gumushel asked to amend the agenda so as not to allow anyone to give a presentation – of which there was only one.
“We had all the information that we needed to make a decision last week,” he said. “By my count, we’ve now delayed 81 days going forward with this tender which we may not be able to afford … there is no more talking, there [are] no more presentations, there [are] no more Facebook events, no more opinion polls, it’s time for us to vote.”
“I honestly believe that there is an option available to us that doesn’t involve drastically altering our shoreline and changing the aesthetics of historic downtown Saint Andrews forever.” — Coun. Steve Neil
The project has faced pushback in recent months from residents and councillors – which led the municipality to commission an environmental study through GEMTEC.
It cost the town an additional $25,000.
It’s what mechanical engineer Steve Saunders came to council to review – he specializes in computational fluid dynamic engineering. He did a peer review of the study and wanted to bring his findings for council’s consideration.
“It seemed like quite few of the councillors, more or less, were embedded with where they were going,” he said. “I wasn’t going to be able to change them.”
He pointed out the type of modelling used by the engineering firm wouldn’t be sufficient enough to demonstrate the true impacts to the shoreline. It also did not take into consideration floating debris.
Saunders added there didn’t appear to be enough samples taken from the bedrock to determine the impact of longshore sediment transfer.
Coun. Steve Neil, who works in a sediment lab for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, also challenged the findings. He’s voiced concerns for months on the project.
“Four samples, for me, from a scientific perspective has got zero statistical power,” he said.
Garth Holder, one of the engineers who works for GEMTEC, confirmed that if sand was present there would be the movement of sediment or sand at the corners of the infill.
Rationale for councillors
Back in April, Neil said he felt this wasn’t an option the public chose but one it settled for. He also took aim at the project’s future accessibility.
Tourists often visit the town in order to walk on the seabed floor – along the sides of the wharf when the tide is out.
The town’s bylaws state any new construction must be accessible and at a grade of five per cent or less. Neil said the slopes on the infill range anywhere from seven to 10 per cent.
“Which basically renders that side of the wharf from the Day Adventure Centre up to the wharf, in my opinion, inaccessible to anybody in a wheel chair or [with] mobility issues,” he said, adding there is a similar issue with the wharf approach.
“Yet we’re about to accept it on what is probably our greatest tourist attraction in the Town of Saint Andrews,” he said. “For those reasons, and all the reasons I’ve outlined before, I’m not in favour of sending this to tender.”
He said while he wouldn’t want to go back to the drawing board, if that is what the public wants, he thinks it is what should happen.
“I honestly believe that there is an option available to us that doesn’t involve drastically altering our shoreline and changing the aesthetics of historic downtown Saint Andrews forever,” he said.
Other councillors shared their reasons for supporting the motion. Coun. Annette Harland said her reasons were four-fold.
She explained the seven years of discussion, information and consultation, were transparent. Harland also said the federal funding – set to expire in March 2026 – is another reason she’s moving forward.
Read more: Saint Andrews wharf study released, faces public pushback
The council also chose this option because it can be done in the winter, minimizing the impact to the tourism season – typically about 100 days.
“This is an opportunity for us to expand the footprint of our market square, which I believe should be the heart of our community,” she added.
The businesses around market square did bring plans for options for the revitalization of the square in 2017, according to Kevin Simmonds, the owner of the Herring Pub.
But a plan for the square, once construction is complete, remains unknown.
“There has been no visioning exercise. We have to do that,” Harland said.
Coun. Marc Blanchard pointed to the survey that was done during several rounds of consultations in 2023 and the many meetings held over the last several years.
“A lot of the information coming forward in that forum [social media] we have already taken into account, discussed and debated, and it was what informed our decision back in 2024 to accept this design,” he said.
The survey showed 71 people chose the hybrid infill option out of 191 people. There were five original designs, but some cost too much, others took too much time.
Coun. Darrell Weare questioned the validity of that survey.
“There is no statistical validity to the survey at all,” he said. “They’re meaningless from a pure statistics point of view.”
Coun. Lee Heenan also expressed support for the design.
“Market square is useless when it’s raining,” he said. “It’s going to be an economic anchor around our neck. I want to see the market square become a market square that can be used in [the] rain.”
Some of the public also support moving forward, including Roger McNabb – a commodore and avid sailor.
“I’m very proud of the council. They’ve been working on this for a long time, for a project and they’ve gotten as much information as they possibly can get a hold of even right up [to] tonight, and they have to make a decision for the citizens of Saint Andrews and they made a decision,” he said.
He feared, without action, the wharf would continue to deteriorate.
What’s next for the project
The project will now go to tender, which will take several weeks. The tendering process involves the town accepting bids from construction firms for a specific amount of money.
In the end, the council is limited to about roughly $8-million.
Acting Mayor Kate Akagi said she was pleased with the outcome, but added a lot is still up in the air.
“When we get the tender back, we make the decision as to which tender is accepted,” she said. “If it is over our price line, we won’t be doing it.”
Construction could begin in October if the tender is on budget and approved by council.
