Essex Council defers decision to implement Flooding Task Force

by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative

Essex Council deferred Mayor Sherry Bondy’s motion to establish a Flooding Task Force to the May 19 regular meeting, after administration presented an alternative process when the matter was discussed at Monday’s meeting. This gives the Mayor a chance to connect with staff.

  The opportunity was first presented as a Notice of Motion at the April 20 meeting.

  Through her motion, Bondy wanted to create a Flooding Task Force as the Town of Essex has experienced recurrent flooding events that have impacted residents, infrastructure, and local businesses.

  She wants the committee to investigate the underlying causes of recurring flooding within the municipality; review existing stormwater systems, drainage infrastructure, and flood mitigation measures; engage with relevant experts, consult with residents and affected stakeholders; identify immediate, medium-term, and long-term mitigation strategies; and provide recommendations to Council, including cost estimates and potential funding opportunities.

  The Task Force would report back to Council with findings and actionable recommendations; Town staff would be directed to provide administrative support and coordinate necessary resources; and administration would come back to Council with the terms of reference for said task force in six-months.

  Resident Bill Baker supported the motion.  

“Flooding and drainage issues – as we all know – affect our residents, roads, and houses,” Baker said. He asked that the Flooding Task Force be approved, be given a clear mandate, and have it report back with priorities and cost recommendations.

  He would like flooding and drainage issues to be reviewed in Wards 4 and 3, including beaches west of Colchester Village, the hamlet of Colchester, Harrow, rural and other low-lying areas.

  The biggest gap for residents is clarity, Baker said.

  Resident Rachael Mills also spoke in favour of the motion to establish the Flooding Task Force. While it is not a new concern in Essex, it is an increasingly urgent one with weather events becoming more frequent and intense, and less predictable.

  She liked that the motion acknowledged flooding in the municipality is influenced by several factors and therefore requires several solutions. It also proposes something reasonable and responsible in response.

  John DeMarco of Kingsville also spoke to the matter, offering strong support. He said it was great to see the Town take on this initiative.

  He offered a few suggestions that may help improve the mandate and move the process along.  

  Mayor Bondy thanked members of the public for being engaged on the file and coming out to support the initiative.

  “I think it is a good step forward,” she said. “I do believe we are doing a lot of things on a regular basis to address flooding.”

  She sees establishing a Flooding Task Force as taking it a step further, doing something similar to what was done in Essex Centre previously, which seemed to be very effective in looking at phasing in costs. Flood mitigation will cost money, she noted.

  The Town of Essex recently delegated to the province at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) Conference about flooding, but didn’t have data to show what amount of money in infrastructure improvements would help how many residents.

  Essex is not alone, Bondy added.

  “We are getting more extreme weather, more often.”

  Moving forward, she wants to plan to be more resilient.

  Director of Infrastructure Services, Kevin Girard, shared a different idea.

  “Flooding does continue to be one of the Town’s most significant infrastructure concerns,” he said.

  The Town’s circumstances are significantly different than that of 2015, when the Ward 1 Flood Mitigation Task Force was established. Since that time, the municipality has completed substantial technical work. That included initiating a town-wide Master Servicing Plan recently to review flooding root causes, drainage infrastructure performance, impacts of growth, climate-related rainfall considerations, and the development of prioritized mitigation strategies with associated capital costs.  

The Town has already retained an engineer and will undertake technical analysis, agency consultation, two public information centres, and an additional resident flooding survey to identify hot spots and gather public input, Girard added.

  From the administration’s perspective, the objectives identified in Bondy’s motion are already being actively addressed through the Master Servicing Plan, currently underway.

  His concern is that a separate Flooding Task Force would create a parallel committee structure that duplicates the work already assigned to the consultant team. Girard believes it would require additional staff resources and may slow implementing work in the Servicing Master Plan by redirecting effort into management of a separate process.

  Instead, Girard said administration recommended establishing a flood advisory committee comprised of members of Council to work directly alongside the Servicing Master Plan, which could received regular technical updates from administration and the consulting team, review resident consultation results from public open houses and submissions, provide Council and resident input on study priorities and identify public concerns, and improve Council’s understanding of municipal drain operations, infrastructure limitations, and mitigation opportunities.

  The consultant would be willing to facilitate that at no cost to the Town. He said the Flooding Task Force would likely cost additional dollars in staff time.

  Mayor Bondy would have liked to have that information ahead of the meeting to digest. Girard brings up valid points, but it would be a big pivot.

  “I do think we are doing a lot of good work, and the flooding advisory committee you are talking about may work. I also do believe we should have some more people from the community and not just elected officials,” she commented.

  She would like to meet with Girard at his earliest convenience to go over his suggestion.

  “At the end of the day, we are accountable to the residents, and the residents want solutions.” Bondy wants to see an end result with more positive change.

  Even if it rains an inch, she said, there are people in the municipality who believe it will get into their basements.  “We can’t continue to live like that.”

  Councillor Kim Verbeek spoke of when the Town originally put together its Climate Adaptation Plan, it predicted there would be wetter, wilder, and warmer climate. It didn’t even seem real at that time, but she said they are seeing downfalls causing life-altering floods.   

  The Town needs to look at adapting and being resilient, Verbeek noted.

  It’s a much bigger problem than water in the basement, Councillor Jason Matyi commented.

  Councillor Katie McGuire-Blais was in support of the task force, but believed more time was needed to learn about Girard’s suggestion. She recommended that members of the public be able to attend these meetings, so they can hear the information first-hand. If having residents on the committee delays the process, it might be faster and the solution they are looking for.

  Councillor Joe Garon believed a pause on the matter would be a good idea to give more time to decide which way to go. Councillor Rodney Hammond was willing to take the additional time to decide.  

  Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley was willing to support Bondy’s motion, but liked what Girard had to say. He’d rather money go towards the fix than talk about the fix.