An open house in Bragg Creek on Nov. 25 gave residents the opportunity to find out more about the flood mitigation plans for the hamlet. The event featured representatives from Rocky View County (RVC) and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD) and consultants from MPE Engineering.
An announcement in October from Minister of Environment and Parks, Shannon Phillips, indicated that the government intends to move forward with the much-debated Springbank off-stream reservoir project, the $263-million Springbank Dry Dam (SR1) that will see the construction of a dry dam on county land.
“What that plan really is, is a solution for the whole Elbow River – the package basically includes the Springbank reservoir plus upstream local mitigation in Bragg Creek and Redwood Meadows,” said Jason Penner, public affairs officer with AESRD. “This is one part of a larger flood mitigation project for the Elbow River as a whole.”
The Nov. 25 open house featured a number of displays, which Penner said showed detailed plans for the diking project tentatively planned for the area. According to Penner, the final plans will depend on the input received from the community, but current designs show 3.4 kilometres of dikes up to three metres high.
“At this point, we are really just getting started,” he said. “It’s not so much about the size or width, but about how much water it can hold and what level of flooding it can prevent. The important thing is that (this plan) will mitigate up to a 2013 level flood, and has extra buffer space just in case.”
According to RVC Coun. Liz Breakey, the project provides the “missing piece” to the Bragg Creek revitalization plan, which will be presented to council Dec. 8 and will provide a framework for the community to rebuild after the devastation of the 2013 flooding.
“We couldn’t move the plan forward or attract investment without a plan for safety and servicing for the community, and now that all these pieces are coming together at the same time, it’s incredible,” Breakey said. “It is a chance, but everyone wants to stay and be a part of this community, so we need to make them safe.”
Bragg Creek Community Centre was packed for the open house, which Breakey said had a “positive vibe.” However, some residents were disappointed that there wasn’t much opportunity for a group discussion.
“Looking at the information boards is fine, but we’ve done that before,” said Peter Faloon, who has owned land in West Bragg Creek since 1968. “If you live in a flood plain, there’s going to a berm somewhere. I just had hoped for more of a conversation about it.”
According to Stacia Hemmett, the presentation from AESRD and MPE opened the floor for “a couple” of questions, but then residents were directed to view the boards and ask questions individually of the engineers and planners.
“It feels like as soon as a question came across with a slightly different tone, the entire thing was shut down,” she said. “It would have been a lot better to hear what people were asking so that we could all have the same information.”
However, RVC Reeve Greg Boehlke said there are still a number of steps the project will need to move through before anything is final. Once feedback has been collected from the open house, the engineers will be able to refine their design before bringing it back to the community for future engagement.
“It’s not a reality yet,” he said. “But it looks to me like a pretty good plan, and they have to do something. The damage here was unbelievable, and we put a lot of faith in engineering to hopefully mitigate a 1-in-100 year flood.”
