The City of Yorkton will be investing millions of dollars over the next decade in an attempt to protect the community from the extensive damage like that suffered July 1, last year when the city experienced a massive storm, one later described as a one-in-100-year weather event.
While last year's storm may be an event of a lifetime, there have been other heavy rainstorms which have caused extensive damage in Yorkton, so it was obvious something needed to be done to address the impact of storm water.
While the overall plan is an extensive one, which over the years will include ditches, channels, water drains and other aspects, some yet to be determined - the City has commissioned Associated Engineering to complete the Yorkton West Storm Drainage Study - the first aspects of the work in being seen now.
Drive down Brodie Avenue and you can see where houses purchased by the City have been demolished. At their last regular meeting Aug. 22, Yorkton Council unanimously supported moving toward tendering the actual construction of a holding pond on the property.
The overall project is projected to be $2,300,250.
This project also includes a survey associated with closing Brodie Avenue as part of the work to create the storm pond. The Brodie Street Water Pond project will be spread over 2011 and 2012.
At the same time work is ongoing on additional storm water holding ponds on Dracup Avenue.
The question that is beginning to surface though is what these ponds may be like once done?
Even in non-flood years, the ponds are likely to hold some amount of water, and standing water can become stagnant, have odour, and be home to annoying mosquitoes, a disturbing thought in the face of West Nile Disease worries.
The aesthetics of the Dracup Avenue ponds were discussed earlier this year at Council, and Administration identified a substantial cost to landscape the ponds to include bicycle paths and other amenities to utilize the location as a recreational asset. In the face of spending millions on the overall drainage plan Council seemed reserved to putting the landscaping on hold for now.
When the Brodie project was discussed Aug. 22, a rough drawing suggested a new skateboard park might be incorporated into the green area around the pond, but again Council seemed inclined to simply dig a bigger hole.
The idea of incorporating a fountain into the Brodie development to combat stagnant water was also discussed by Council, and while it was stated such issues will be dealt with, details were not revealed.
In all likelihood in nine or every 10-years the ponds will be little more than empty holes, so the requirement to invest in landscaping which broadens the usefulness of the pond areas into recreational areas will be essential, meaning investing as the project progresses, not at some vague time years in the future.
