By Jim Bloch
To minimize the chance of flooding, the city of St. Clair is planning to break up the ice in the Pine River, which divides the municipality in two.
The members of the city council talked about the frozen river and what to do about it at their regular meeting March 3. They agreed to allow City Superintendent Quentin Bishop to explore hiring a boat to break up the ice at the mouth of the river and a long-arm excavator to break the ice further upstream toward the city-owned Pine Shores Golf Course.
“We need to discuss the thickening ice in the harbor,” said Bishop, as heard on the CTV-Channel 6 recording of the meeting, posted on YouTube. “We had a sounding test last week. Harbor Master (Dave) Shorkey went out and there’s 16 inches of ice now present in the harbor. When that starts to break loose, all kinds of things can happen. Last year, we reached out to an operator here in the city and we had him bring in a long-arm excavator to help break up the ice when the time was right.”
The excavator could be parked at the golf course until it’s needed, Bishop said.
“There’s no way to tell what kind of thaw there’s going to be, but I definitely don’t want to be caught off guard,” Bishop said.
“Can you get some numbers for the next meeting?” asked Mayor Bill Cedar.
“I think (the melt) will happened before the next meeting,” said council member Erin Gottler. “Next week, we’re going to see 60-degree weather and maybe an inch of rain. That’s when the problem is going to happen.”
“Good point,” said Cedar.
Gottler said the icebreaking worked well last year.
“We spent $3,000 on the initial drop-off of the equipment (and the icebreaking),” said Bishop. “After the ice was moving, there was an additional cost to clear all the brush out that was coming downriver and caught along the banks and in front of the boat houses.”
“I’d rather do prevention than repair,” said council member Micah Volz.
“I live right there and have watched it year after year,” said council member Bill Westrick. The problem is that you have to break up the ice at the mouth of the river, otherwise the ice won’t move out.
“I wonder if we can get that long-arm down by the launch,” said Bishop.
The boat launch is further downstream on the opposite side of the river from the golf course.
“In Port Huron, they run a boat from the mouth in (to the river),” said Westrick.
“So, break it up on the way in,” said Bishop.
Right, said Westrick.
“I don’t know who Port Huron is using or if they’re available or what the cost would be,” said Gottler.
Port Huron hired Purdy Fisheries Ltd., of Point Edward, Ontario, across the St. Clair River from the city, to break up the ice on the Black River. The operation was scheduled to run March 3-7.
“So, is it okay if I move forward, either trying to find a boat and a captain who is in that line of business and then back it up with an operator who can drop a long arm off and break up the ice behind it?” asked Bishop. “A boat can only go in so far.”
The six council members agreed; Kris Paul was absent.
“Be proactive,” said Mayor Cedar. “We’re not going to wait on this.”
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
