The Varney Pond won’t be reopening this summer.
The Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority board recently endorsed an executive committee recommendation to keep the pond at the Varney Conservation Area closed until further notice.
“At the very least, for this year,” Saugeen Conservation general manager Jennifer Stephens told board members at a May 16 meeting.
Saugeen Valley Conservation didn’t fill the popular swimming hole in Varney with water last year — a decision met with pushback from some in the community. Safety concerns and the pond’s history of being fed by Camp Creek were among the reasons Saugeen Conservation officials cited for the Varney Pond closure.
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Stephens says Saugeen Valley Conservation continues to work with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on its application to divert water from a tributary of Camp Creek to fill the Varney Pond.
“But we have not been provided with a decision yet,” Stephens explains.
Approval from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to divert water is the primary stamp Saugeen Conservation requires to move towards reopening the Varney Pond. But Stephens told board members they’re also communicating with the Ministry of Transportation. And the Ministries of Natural Resources and Forestry, as well as Environment, Conservation and Parks could also require reviews.
The SVCA’s insurer has also expressed “significant concerns” related to swimming at the Varney Pond, a report to the conservation authority’s board explains.
Some money would need to be spent as well to make the Varney Pond “a tangible conservation area” again, Stephens says. It would cost about $177,000 to address several recommendations in an inspection report completed by engineering consulting firm D.M. Willis Associates. They include a safety assessment and inspecting and/or repairing some components of the inlet and a wooden footbridge.
And an SVCA report says hundreds of thousands more would apparently have to be spent to reopen and operate the pond as swimming area. That extensive list includes more studies, plans and repairs.
“It’s important the board understand that we don’t have a lot of money for our non-revenue parks,” Stephens says.
West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles says he’s not convinced all of the spending the SVCA says is necessary is a requirement to get a natural swimming area back up and running again.
Last month, Eccles and Southgate Mayor Brian Milne met with Stephens to discuss next steps for the Varney Pond. Eccles says he hopes to see the pond “returned to the public function it used to be” sooner than later.
“I don’t think that there’s a huge problem with doing that,” Eccles says. “But, if you want to put up some roadblocks. I guess that’s what some directors and what not are trying to do here.”