Stormwater system in east Saint John to be reviewed

Saint John city council approved a motion Monday night to look into the state of storm water infrastructure in the Glen Falls and Golden Grove Road areas.

The motion was made by Ward 4 councillor Ray Strowbridge, who is looking for more information on the state of the east side's flood prevention systems, after a series of winter storms led to widespread flooding and damage in late January.

According to Strowbridge, the last time the system was examined a few years ago it was shown to be operating properly. But given the amount of flooding recently, he isn't sure if that is still the case, especially for the area's main holding pond near Golden Grove Road.

"It's over 20 years old, and to the best of my knowledge it's never been re-dredged or dug out, so naturally it will fill back in," Strowbridge said during the meeting. 

City manager John Collin was concerned about the potential cost to the city, but the motion was met with approval after Strowbridge confirmed he was not looking for a full engineering analysis, which could become expensive.

Area has permanent flooding concerns

Low lying areas of Saint John are no stranger to flooding, but for many residents, it's something they just have to grin and bear. 

"This is an area of town that we've had challenges with for many, many years," said Mayor Don Darling. "[Recently],the word that's in my head is climate change. We're having far more rain events when the ground is frozen and snow is on the ground." 

Drains covered in solid ice lead to heavy flooding in Saint John's west side

6 years ago

Duration 1:01

This video was shot by Liz Fulton at the corner of Rodney and Ludlow streets in Saint John's west side. People were trying to find the drains to clear them but they were covered in solid ice.

The city has looked at a number of proposals to try to reduce flooding, but they've all been prohibitively expensive. In 2008, the last time a detailed engineering study was conducted, it was determined that it would cost at least $50 million to even partially fix the area's perpetual flooding problem, half the city's budget at the time.

And in 2011, former mayor Ivan Court suggested the city buy up houses in the neighbourhood and relocate residents, allowing the area to return to its natural wetland state. That idea was rejected because it would have cost $5 million to buy the 63 houses in the area that floods once every five years.

Strowbridge doesn't want anything near that scale, but he does wonder if something can be done. 

"Would a second or third holding pond help? Should we add more of those? Let's really see if the current pond is still able to hold everything that it did 25 to 30 years ago when it was first constructed, and go over the response the city uses when these types of events occur."

The status quo isn't acceptable

Now that the motion has been passed, the city manager and staff will do a short analysis of the systems currently in place, and the city will decide how to continue.

"I've seen myself online a lot of speculation about causes, so I think it's important to give it to our professional staff and have them come back and report to this council," said Darling.

A date has not been set for when staff will report back, but Strowbridge is looking forward to hearing what they have to say.

"We get these types of weather events," he said, "so I want to make sure the status quo isn't the accepted way to do it, and people don't sustain this kind of water damage. That's not right."