BONNYVILLE – The MD of Bonnyville knows which drainage issues are their priority for the coming year.
Council approved their 2021 drainage priorities map during their Jan. 20 committee meeting, and also passed a motion instructing administration to bring back a phased, multi-year approach to dealing with other issues throughout the municipality.
Abid Malik, general manager of infrastructure services for the municipality, said that projects were prioritized based on a number of different criteria.
“The priority was given to public infrastructure where our infrastructure is creating drainage and flooding issues or if some drainage issues are (affecting) our infrastructure. That will be dealt with as priority number one, then the second priority will be on a case-by-case basis and that will be where communities are impacted,” he detailed, adding the third category is related to single private dwellings and aren’t a priority at this time.
This was a concern for Coun. Dana Swigart and he wondered why administration even included them on the map if they weren’t a high priority.
“I don’t think that was your intention. I think your intention was so we know there’s issues there so we’ll do something. It’s not like we’ll just ignore those areas.”
CAO Luc Mercier responded, “We have no ability to fix all of these in a year... I think your comment Coun. Swigart is maybe we can make it very clear and its correct in so far as we’re noting this is an issue, but for the short-term in this first capital plan, they can’t be a priority. That’s all this is kind of representing. My guess is that when we get to a point in ‘X’ amount of years and other projects are complete, council may want to consider those. At this point, there’s tough decision to be made and we’re just trying to capture where we sit.
“I agreed,” Swigart noted. “There’s some really high priority stuff that we have to finish, I just want to make sure that we’re not just ignoring all of those in the long-term.”
The annual operating budget for the 2021 drainage projects has $800,000 allocated toward them.
There are 31 projects that are a high priority for the municipality, while four fall under the second category. There are also 28 projects that fall under the third category, which can be reassessed and addressed down the road once others are completed.
Administration is currently working on a long-term capital plan to fix larger drainage issues, Mercier stated.
“We need to make a commitment as a municipality because council has put this as a priority to work on these larger drainage issues that have come forward in the past five years,” he continued.
Malik noted the list will be put together over the next few years and will take into account the timelines on each of the projects.
“Some of these projects we cannot start this year because there are environmental approvals required,” he explained. “They may take six months to a year to get those. That’s how we will do it.”
The plan will be brought back to council at a future meeting for further discussion.
Residents' drainage issue added to the list
Council voted in favour of adding an additional project to their drainage priority list after hearing from a resident last month.
Beau Ferbey made a presentation during council’s Dec. 2 meeting outlining the issues he’s faced where his property has gone under water for the past two springs.
According to Malik, administration found that Ferbey’s backyard is a low point and has been receiving water for many years. There’s currently no outlet for this drainage.
Council passed a motion to regrade and clear a ditch east of Pince Crescent roadway, which is the road adjacent to Ferbey’s lot, and a walkway on the other side.
“At the same token, Mr. Ferbey should raise his backyard so that and the regrade in such a way that the water doesn’t pond over there but flows through to the ditch,” Malik explained, adding the municipality can assist in tree removal.
The estimated cost for the project for the MD was $15,000.
Coun. Darcy Skarsen was in favour of this option.
“It actually outs a little of the onus on the landowner as well. I think what’s kind of missed here is the subdivison works and then the MD put in basically a dam where his property is. It really drains there and his ayrd has to come up but the drainage kind of has to go away there too. I think even if he has to bring his land up, it’s still going to pool there. There’s got to be something from both sides.”
Robynne Henry, Bonnyville Nouvelle