declined providing any direct recommendations until the final stages of the design. A preliminary design for the Broadway Drain improvements was executed and a package that summarized the scope and basis of the design was submitted to DFO for their review and comment. DFO expressed their preferences for design alteration during a meeting on March 11, 2016. The main aspects of DFO’s recommendations were summarized in an email issued by Ms. Stacey McGuire on March 14, 2016. The following summarizes the design alterations that were requested, as well and our position with regards to DFO’s recommendations:

a) Redesign of benched area along south side to incorporate one continuous bench rather than six individual benches.

The design basis for the original number and form of the benched areas was presented, which included: reducing flow velocities through the benched sections; creating a variety of water depths through the full range of Detroit River water levels; and, allow tree planting to occur in closer proximity to the main channel, and at more frequent intervals. A compromised solution was agreed to that entailed reducing the number of bench areas from six to three and providing sloped beds in lieu of the originally proposed uniform but varying bed elevations.

b) Placement of woody material (tree stumps and logs) in benched areas and the low flow channel/bank edges.

Placement of tree stumps and logs within the bench areas was implemented as originally proposed, however placing stumps and logs within the channel were deemed to be a potential impediment to future maintenance and the hydraulic performance of the drain. Placement of this material was limited to the bed of the bench areas between Sta. 0+000 to Sta. 0+190 on the south side of the channel only.

c) Placement of coarse substrate on the bed of the channel (gravel, cobble and boulder clusters).

We expressed that wholesale placement of gravel and cobble throughout the channel would likely result in the material being flushed out of the channel and into the Detroit River during periods of low lake levels and high flows, and that it would complicate maintenance should the drain ever require a future bottom cleaning. As a compromise, it was agreed that intermittent rock clusters would be placed sporadically along the entire reach of the drain and identified in the as-built drawings as requiring preservation during future maintenance.

d) Planting of instream native emergent and submergent vegetation within the low flow channel.

We advised against this on the basis that during periods of low lake levels, instream vegetation would not likely survive due to high flow energy. We recommended that in-stream plantings be limited to the benched areas and that aquatic vegetation throughout the