Heather Wright/The Independent

St. Clair Township staff will be taking a more hands on approach with the expansion of the Courtright Waste Water Treatment Plant.

The township received a $33.87 million grant from the province’s Housing Enabling Fund for a $45 million expansion. 

The township has been exploring expansion of the Courtright plant for some time. It became more urgent when Crown Royal maker, Diagio, announced it would be building a new $245 million plant in St. Clair. While that project has been put on hold, residential housing construction is still moving forward. The expansion would allow for 600 more homes to be served as well as help with industrial expansion in the future. 

But the province has also placed tight time frames on the construction, with the township pressing to have the system online by the end of 2027.. But that creates some logistical challenges on a big projects. June 2, township council gave staff approval to be more directly involved in the decision making process – particularly when it comes to buying equipment for the plant – to speed the process up.

Council agreed to suspend the township’s procurement (purchasing rules) bylaw allowing staff to seek out three quotes for the larger items without going through a more lengthy public bids process.

“We are trying to move the project forward as quickly as possible in order to meet the time frames of the grant we received,” said CAO John Rodey in an email to The Independent. 

“In addition we want to obtain equipment that aligns with the equipment we have in the current plant.”

The township said when it received the grant it was hoping to start construction this spring.