If you head down to Port Stanley tonight, you might notice a crowd at the arena that isn’t there for hockey. Central Elgin is holding a public information session from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Port Stanley Arena upper hall on the next phase of a project meant to cut down the flooding that has hit parts of the village for years: new storm sewers on stretches of Maud Street and Bessie Street where none exist today.
The work is called Phase 1B of the Port Stanley Storm Sewer Upsizing Project, and Central Elgin Council has already awarded the construction contract: $2,065,949.50 before tax, or about $2.1 million with HST included, to the low bidder, Cassidy Construction London Ltd., beating out two other companies. The province has put more than $9.3 million into the wider, multi-phase upsizing project through Ontario’s Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, part of a plan the province says will “protect water systems for more than 400 existing homes,” according to Ontario’s Acting Minister of Infrastructure, Todd McCarthy. The federal government’s Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund is also contributing (no dollar figure has been published for that share). Mayor Andrew Sloan said: “We know that flooding has been a concern for residents in parts of Port Stanley, and this project is another important step in addressing those challenges.”
Phase 1A was substantially finished May 15, along William Street, Edith Cavell Boulevard, Maud Street, Bessie Street and Lotus Lane, upsizing storm sewer and outlets that already existed on those streets, plus new watermain and water service work on William Street. Phase 1B is different: it targets the stretches of Maud and Bessie streets that have never had a storm sewer at all, along with replacing every water service and rebuilding the road surface with new curb and gutter. The whole project traces back to the municipality’s West Port Stanley Stormwater Management Plan, which pointed to stormwater capacity gaps behind the localized flooding and surface ponding in the area; the new pipes are sized to handle a storm that statistically hits once every five years, with extra room built in for even rarer events. Before any digging starts, Enbridge is renewing its own gas mains and service lines on both streets, and ERTH Power is adjusting utility poles on Maud Street to make way for the new road; that utility work is already underway and is expected to finish before the storm sewer construction begins.
Construction is timed to stay out of the way of summer visitors. Central Elgin scheduled the work to run from September 8 to November 20, starting right after Labour Day once Port Stanley’s busiest tourist season winds down. Bessie Street won’t be dug up until Maud Street is restored to what the municipality calls “a functional gravel driving surface,” so the two streets won’t be torn up at the same time. Property owners on Maud and Bessie streets are getting project-specific information directly and will get a chance tonight to look at drawings, ask questions and give feedback.
Port Stanley sits in Central Elgin, not St. Thomas, but it’s the beach town St. Thomas heads to most often on summer weekends. When it comes to flooding there, responsibility is split two ways. Municipal storm sewers, like the ones going into Maud and Bessie streets, are Central Elgin’s job. Watershed-level flood forecasting for the same stretch of shoreline, where Kettle Creek meets Lake Erie, belongs to the Kettle Creek Conservation Authority, the agency LocVox reported this week is merging into a new regional conservation authority by February 2027. The two systems work side by side: one moves the water once it falls, the other watches how much is coming.
Residents with questions about the project can reach the municipality at projects@centralelgin.org, or contact the project’s engineer directly, Tyler Erickson, at 519-631-4860 ext. 7272. Project updates are posted at Let’s Talk Central Elgin.
Sources: Municipality of Central Elgin, “Port Stanley Storm Sewer Upsizing Project Advances with Phase 1B Construction this Fall,” August 17, 2026, Report to Council DPE.36.26, “Award of Tender CE-2026-29B – Port Stanley Storm Sewer Upsizing Phase 1B,” June 22, 2026, LocVox Newsroom, “Kettle Creek Conservation Authority Will Merge Into a New Regional Body in 2027,” August 19, 2026
By Anthony Zruna · About the LocVox Newsroom
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