NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT The city council will soon have to decide on completing a berm that would cross Industrial Avenue, and connecting existing sections near Strathcona Island Park (seen at right of photo), and one along the Seven Persons Creek (bottom left).
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
City planners are preparing to ask council to finalize a plan to close the book on a local flood-mitigation plan — either scheduling remaining projects or cancelling them – though this month’s provincial budget complicates how they would be paid for.
The city began working on the 7.1 kilometres of berming in 2014, one year after major floods in the city with some support from the Alberta Community Resiliency Program, Ottawa and the city’s own reserve cash.
About 5.2 kilometres has been completed, but projects remain and the provincial program to help pay for work will be discontinued next year as the government scales back on spending.
“We have a lot of applications in that have been approved – meaning they qualify – but haven’t been funded,” Mayor Ted Clugston told the News when the budget was introduced last month.
“It’s unfortunate for Medicine Hat.”
The program’s website, under the Alberta Parks and Environment website, now notes the project is closed, potentially meaning that it will only consider applications that have already been submitted.
The ministry did not respond to inquiries from the News seeking clarification.
The budget shows a pull-back on capital spending to help balance the books. ACRP will be cancelled following the 2020-21 fiscal year, which begins in March. An updated list of projects released in early November suggests the remaining $43 million in the program has been spent.
Local administrators have often said in updates each fall that they continued to have standing applications to the program, set up under the Progressive Conservatives in 2014, and continued under the New Democrats as a 12-year program worth $531 million to pay costs to municipalities for substantial flood mitigation projects.
In Medicine Hat a $2.5-million award was matched by federal dollars and put toward the cost of the Lion’s Park berm, and two years ago the city and Cypress County both received money to protect potable water utility works.
In general flood mitigation, local engineering and administrators have said they hope to get new direction from council on completing the city’s general flood mitigation strategy that was approved in late 2013.
They have also said some projects may be scaled back as the completion of a number of large, high-priority efforts – like the 2.3-kilometre Lion’s Park berm in 2015 – mean that emergency managers can better protect other areas with material and manpower.
Essentially, removable flood walls, barricades and sand bags the city has on hand, would be better employed in the 800 metres of high priority area that remains.
Major earth berms are also complete in low areas of Harlow and Riverside, a flood gate is installed at the city hall parkade, and all 39 storm drains that backed up in 2013 have been replaced.
Most of a berm to protect Industrial Avenue is complete in two sections, but joining them and installing a flood gate over the connection to Highway 41A is still outstanding.
Not complete are a further phase in Harlow, behind Finlay Court, and work along the Seven Persons Creek in the South Flats – both in the plan council approved in late 2013.
