Photo courtesy of Jim Bloch. The Tainter gate and the Black River Canal, looking east from Gratiot Avenue.
Local News

Port Huron approves cost-sharing agreement to dredge Black River Canal

By Jim Bloch

The city of Port Huron has approved a cost-sharing agreement with the townships of Port Huron and Fort Gratiot to dredge the Black River Canal.

Under the agreement, Port Huron and Fort Gratiot townships each agreed to pay for 25 percent of the annual dredging costs of the canal up to $15,000 per year. 

“The city of Port Huron will pay 50 percent of the costs of the dredging and any amount in excess of the annual cap amount …,” according to the agreement unanimously approved by the city council at its regular meeting Aug. 14.

The previous intergovernmental agreement between the parties capped the townships’ contributions at $7,500 per year.

Fort Gratiot Township Board of Trustees approved the agreement by a 5-2 vote at its regular meeting Aug. 2. The Port Huron Township board approved the agreement at its regular meeting July 17 by a vote of 7-0.

Last year, the city obtained permission from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy to dredge more cubic yards of material than its annual limit of 9,000 cubic yard, which helped bump the cost of the work to nearly $100,000, the most money the city has spent on dredging the canal over the past eight years by about 20 percent.

Even without the need for additional dredging, the cost for the work annually has been creeping upward like everything else since the start of the pandemic in 2020. 

The canal connects the southeastern reaches of the Black River and the far southwestern shore of Lake Huron. The canal was dredged in 1912 in an effort to flush the polluted waters of the Black River into the St. Clair River. Today, the canal, the Black River and the St. Clair River and Lake Huron between the two waterways form a roughly wedge-shaped 10-mile loop for aquatic travel: Kayakers and canoeists may enter the Black River from St. Clair River, head generally northwest to the canal then east to Lake Huron and south back to the St. Clair River. It is a part of the Island Loop Route National Water Trail.

The dredging typically takes place between the Tainter gate just east of Gratiot Avenue — a moveable dam-like structure used to control the flow of water out of and into the canal — and Lake Huron. High lake levels over the past few years, coupled with high winds, have hastened the build-up of sand in the mouth of the canal.

Sand dredged from the canal is typically placed at Lakeside Beach.

“The initial payment for the costs of dredging of the canal and the obtaining of all permits necessary for the dredging will be the responsibility of the City of Port Huron,” according to the agreement. “The Townships will tender payment of their share within thirty days of receipt of an invoice from the City of Port Huron as to their share of the costs of the dredging.”

Any grants won by the city to support the dredging will reduce the payments of the townships according to the cost-share formula.

“In exchange for agreeing to assist in the costs of the dredging of the Black River Canal, the City of Port Huron agrees to allow Port Huron Charter Township and Fort Gratiot Charter Township residents admittance to Lakeside Beach Park at the same rates required of Port Huron City residents,” according to the agreement.

Admittance to the beach remains free to those residents.

Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com. 

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