Demolition started today on the former Townsend home on Grand Road beside Canadian Tire that Northumberland County is tearing down in case it ever gets enough money to build a new Campbellford bridge.
The home is one of three demolished as part of preparation should a bridge be built. A year ago, county councillors were told the cost of a new bridge had risen to $56 million and that $40 million of that would need to be borrowed or financed by the province.
The councillors didn’t decide to halt the project, so staff has pushed ahead with acquiring properties needed and demolishing two homes on the east side of the Trent River and now the one on the west side. Their hope is that the Ford government will change its mind once the project is ready to go.
But various provincial ministers have consistently rejected the project over the past three years, leading to the current stalemate.
Demolition of the Grand Road home will probably be completed on Friday, and the land will be cleaned up, graded and grass planted, as happened on Second Street.
CR 30 bridge work continues
In other bridge news, the county says work on the County Road 30 bridge across the Trent in the hamlet of Trent River is going well and should be completed as scheduled “around the end of October.”
The bridge has been closed since August 18.
All candidates’ meeting at the Aron
The two mayoral candidates and those running in all five wards will be invited to a meeting at the Aron Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 22 from 7-9 p.m.
I believe this is the first meeting with all candidates invited. One in Campbellford included the candidates in wards 1-3 and the two mayoral candidates, while a meeting in Hastings last week was the mayoral candidates and the three running in ward 5.
Ironic the we are razing houses when we have a housing shortage, to facilitate an imaginary bridge that we don’t need, and won’t be able to afford in at least the next 10 years. The delusion of the now deceased former major. We need a new hospital, not a new bridge.