Woodstock Navy Club calls out city over pond woes

Lee Griffi, Editor

The Oxford County Naval Veterans Association wants answers from the City of Woodstock, and it looks like they are a little closer to getting some.

The Navy Club, as it is more commonly known, released a May 15 letter it sent to the city to the public on June 15 on social media. The Echo reached out to its writer, Lyle Ball, the club’s treasurer, who said he was told by the city it had received interim report on May 19 but some items in it needed to be clarified. He quoted an email from city engineer Harold DeHaan.

“I read it this morning based on our first read. There are a few items that need to be clarified. I'm going to respond to the consultants this week to address these items and revise the report accordingly. I will circulate the revised report when received.”

City council set aside $50,000 for the study, and Ball said the club hoped for a timely response from the city, one which never came.

“He wrote back an e-mail saying the city received a draft report but he had some questions and concerns about it and sent it back to the consultant to be addressed. We are still waiting for the revised draft report.”

The Echo reached out to the city for an update and received the following statement.

“The city recognizes the frustrations that have been expressed. We have provided regular status updates to affected parties as information has become available whenever requested, and we will continue to do so. We remain committed to working through the challenges surrounding the pond and toward a resolution that supports the interests of everyone involved,” said Tatjana Milne, manager of marketing and communications.

“As noted earlier, staff are currently reviewing a draft report from the consultant regarding the pond’s water levels, and a report with recommended next steps will be brought to council,” she added.

Ball didn’t hide his frustration with what he believes is a lack of transparency.

“The city has not provided updates on a regular basis, only when asked then nothing was really said. I do not agree with this statement. They have had the draft reports since May 19 and done nothing with it. That's why the frustration from our side.”

He added the Navy Club has been without a fully functional pond since the fall of 2024.

“This has been a slow-moving train, and we're kind of at the end of our rope because all we keep getting is the runaround and we're sick of it because it's coming up two years this November that they caused this.”

According to a presentation made to the city last year by the Navy Club the pond is spring-fed. In November 2024, construction began on the City's Engineering building addition at 944 James Street, adjacent to the Navy Club. The club says the pond's water level began dropping to the point of approximately two feet and it still has not recovered.

The club believes the construction intercepted or damaged the underground spring, or hit a seam, that supplies the pond.

“They hit the water seam that goes from under our pond and then flows south to the to the brick pond water area. They hit that vein and they pumped steady for probably three weeks and we started noticing the pond level go down. The light bulb went on and we started questioning at that point.”

Ball said one day concrete trucks showed up in an attempt to plug the .

“I still believe and I'm led to believe they still have water issues and problems in the basement of their new addition. I know a few of us have been across the street. We've looked in the catch basin they put in, which basically is draining our pond, and it's running full throttle all the time. We know it's our water that's going through there and just being dumped somewhere else.”

He added the club asked the city to stop work on the site.

“We were told that the chief building official did not want to stop and he told the contractor to carry on, don't stop. And that was all happening in December three years ago.”

The site hosts several community events, including the Navy Club Kids Fishing Derby, a Veterans Fishing Outing for patients from Parkwood Hospital, and the Kids and Cops Fishing Derby.

Ball added three or four years ago the club secured grants from the Ontario Federation of Anglers (OFAH) and Hunters to stock the pond with fish.

“The sports committee followed up and they submitted again and they got approved for two years worth of grant money from OFAH. Because we couldn't put fish in a pond that we know were going to die, we've had to forego those two years of grants.”

He explained the club is feeling helpless and is skeptical anyone is interested in finding a solution partially because it’s an election year.

“Everybody wants to sit on their hands. And we just figured that we talked about this at our executive meeting last Sunday and it was agreed that, okay, enough is enough. We've got an election coming up. We know we have one or two people who are going to be retiring that's been part of this group from the city. It's time that we get some answers before people retire and the election happens or if we have a lame duck council that can't do anything because it's left to go too long.”