Oxford Council Approves Foundry Street Tender

Oxford Town Council awarded a tender for the Foundry Street water line and paving project.

Council considered three bids, Wednesday evening, to undertake the large project that would renovate that street’s underground and surface infrastructure.

The bids included:

Atlantic Snow & Ice Removal:  $1,366,978.12

Cumberland Paving: $1,507,287.86

Dexter Construction:  $1,644,282.68

Councillor Paul Jones expressed some concern, since Atlantic Snow & Ice Removal was not a known player among the infrastructure development companies. Linda Cloney, the Chief Administrative Officer, informed council that the firm was operated by John Chisholm, formerly of Nova Construction, who had worked on town infrastructure projects in the past, including the waste treatment lagoon.

That additional information appeared to placate concerns among councillors, who unanimously voted to accept the bid from Atlantic Snow & Ice Removal.

Cloney noted that this project is taking advantage of government funding sources that will see the town only responsible for 25% of the total project cost — around $530-thousand. This preserves vital core capital reserves for future infrastructure projects, such as the Main Street water line replacement and paving project, which is high on the list, if not guaranteed to be next, of much-needed work to be done.

Work on the Foundry Street project is expected to be underway by the Fall.

Cloney noted that a redesign of the Foundry Street Project is going to benefit another part of town, unexpectedly. The initial concept for Foundry Street included more than the necessary number of fire hydrants and associated underground interconnections. Having the engineering plan re-drawn enabled the town to free up funding from the project that will now go to fixing an overdue water line replacement on River Avenue. 

Cloney says the water leaks on that line have resulted in property damage and required an inordinate amount of public works attention in efforts to stop leaks. That line also has a 74-metre-long stretch of 3/4” lead pipe that must be replaced under current regulations.

While the water line replacement is needed and will benefit both residents and the public works budget in the long run, there won’t be funding to repave that end of River Avenue until future funding for capital projects is set aside. Residents will see the road converted to a gravel surface in the meantime.

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