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AMHERST ISLAND FERRY Province t i l to run' idock 1 { IAN ELLIOT ; . ielliot@thewhig.com 1 1 Fit; 4:"; L' «53"? : v; ' f A small but heavily-used piece of Loy- ' aljst Township will soon be in provincial hands, and township council couldn't be happier to see it go. i ,Eleven years ago, the federal govem- ' ment downloaded the Amherst Island . ferry docks at Stella and Millhaven to an .un'enthusiastic lore-amalgamation , townships of Amherst Island and ' Ernestown as part of a national divest-- : ment program. i , i The ferry is provincially owned and municipally run and almost since the day the transfer occurred, Loyalist offi-- ' dials have been lobbying the provincial government to take over the two docks, ; i'n part because of the high cost of up- grading them from side-loading docks to the more efficient front-loading style . used by ferries at Glenora and Wolfe ls- . land. E This week the government an-- nounced that it intended to begin nego- ? tiations with township officials that ' would lead to the transfer of the two docks. ' "This is great news for Loyalist Town- ship," said CAO Diane Pearce yesterday. . ,' "This is actually the only place in the ; province that a provincially-owned ferry docks at a municipally-owned dock." I The Frontenac II, the ferry that serves " the island, can be loaded both from the side, or from the bow and stern. A study commissioned by the town- ' ship in 2006 estimated that it would cost $4 million to convert the docks to allow front loading and unloading. The price will have gone up since as a result of in- flation. ' _ That figure does not include an envr- ronmental assessment of the sites that would have to be done before any work ' 'could be done. The study and cleanup 'of anything that was found on the sites could run into six figures. When the province takes over the / dock, it will be responsible for paying for the environmental assessment and any remediation that needs to be done, as well as the cost of converting the docks to allow front--loading. J" Front-loading will not only be more (efficient but less damaging to the envi- anent. ' \' currently, the terry must use both its ' engines to push itself against the docks while loading from the side, a manoeu» ver that wastes fuel and emits pollu- tion. The township had applied for money from the federal-provincial infrastruc- ture fund to pay for the conversion of the docks. but that application was turned down in favour of projects that . were, in government parlance, "shovel- ready." The dock project was not ready to ' start construction because the environ- mentals had not been done. ' No date has been set either to when ' the province will take over the docks _or begin to renovate them, but town- 'ship reeve Clayton McEwen said he 'was eager to begin negotiations to transfer the municipally-owned pieces , ofland. He said converting the docks to allow front-loading would benefit both com- , muters and island farmers who use the boat to transport agricultural supplies and equipment. Beacon, August/September 2009 Say Goodbye to the Frontenac II PHOTO nY TERRY CULBERT [om/Lt! Towns/1i]; announced Ilia! the M. V. F 1'07716l70t' U will be temporarily replaced by Prince Edward (VON/"J; 3' Qnime Loyalis'lfi'mn ()cmbcr 131/: until December 23rd-