River Valley Park open for another month (2 photos)

River Valley Park will stay open for at least another month, says owner Harjeet Dusanjh.

Algoma Public Health (APH) originally set the trailer park to close as of Aug. 31, stating the park could not "continue to operate without a functioning sewage system."

When the deadline came, APH did not enforce the closure and gave the park a one month extension to Oct. 1.

Bureaucratic speed bumps, lengthy testing and application processing times were the reasons the trailer couldn't meet APH's deadline, said Dusanjh.

During the month of September, Dusanjh said he complied with APH's requests by blocking off a lower section of road in the park and putting a fence around the septic system's leaching bed.

He also conducted a crucial water study for an Environmental Compliance Approval application to be submitted to Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.

Dusanjh provided a copy of half a letter from APH that states he needs to continue to pump the park’s sewage to prevent a "health hazard" and that the closure of the portion of the lower road was to "prevent access and exposure" and prepare for a new sewage system.

He did not provide the contents of the first half of the letter but did say he was fully complying with APH.

The new deadline is Nov. 1, said Dusanjh, who added that more extensions may need to be granted.