This permanent berm construction along Harris Street in Harlow was the first phase built after the 2013 flood. The second phase to protect another 14 homes will be constructed possibly this fall.--NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
A city councillor says the second phase of the Harlow berm will go ahead regardless of resistance, and that the Riverside berm did not go ahead because it would have been too costly to fight.
Many Riverside river-front properties have riparian rights to the land by the water. After the 2013 flood when many homes in that neighbourhood were affected, the city talked with residents about installing a berm. Many along the river were against it.
At the time Coun. Robert Dumanowski, chair of the public services committee, voiced his support for the city to “expropriate” the land in order to install the berm and protect the whole neighbourhood.
“I still stand by that,” said Dumanowski.
The strategy was to move forward on berm construction in phases with the easier ones first, he said. Riverside, with expropriation of land, would have been much more costly and time consuming.
“It’s a lengthy, costly scenario and certainly as we were phasing this berm out that was not one of the low-hanging fruit. It was probably the most complicated and costly phases,” said Dumanowski.
The second phase of a berm in Harlow directly affecting 14 homes will go ahead.
Mayor Ted Clugston told the News on Thursday that when he said recently that 90 per cent of residents were in favour of the berm he was talking of all residents in the whole of Harlow.
“There are about 250 houses in Harlow,” said Clugston.
He says when city officials met one-on-one with the 14 residents – on Finlay and Link Court and Seventh and Eighth Avenues – there were 10 who were in favour.
“I’m aware of four homeowners who have very strong views,” said Clugston. “The four on the front page of the paper (last Saturday) have very strong views that they don’t want it.”
Clugston says there are times when the city forges ahead because it is the right thing to do for the “entire subdivision,” adding that if another flood occurs and there is “wrap-around water” because the second phase was not built it would be front-page news for weeks.
The city is not looking at any financial compensation for the loss of property value for the 14 homeowners affected.
Dumanowski says the argument of property value loss is often used as an argument and ultimately there is no loss.
He believes the 14 Harlow residents will eventually realize the benefit of the berm and that it will enhance property values because of flood protection.
“The added safety of berm protection would have to be weighed against the loss of trees and privacy,” said Coun. Kris Samraj.
Dumanowski says anyone buying property where there is the potential for berms would be wise to do some homework to understand the city’s plans. He says that would also apply to people buying in Riverside.
The next flood is not a vague possibility but just a matter of time, said Dumanowski. The city has invested a lot in flood mitigation measures for the greater good of the community.
Ryan Shrives, one of the homeowners on Finlay Court, questions why these phase-two berms could be so important if it was on the back burner this long.
“There’s obviously a hidden agenda with the pipeline,” Shrives claims, referring to the city’s decision to close a lift station in the area and run a gravity feed pipe through the planned berm.
Dumanowski says when council approved funding for the berm they did not know about the lift station closure.
“That’s a recent development,” said Dumanowski. “It was not a mitigating factor nor … the major impetus.”
