Council continues to work toward solutions to flooding concerns

BY KIRK STARRATT

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

It has been five years since severe spring flooding caused havoc throughout Kings County and Kentville in particular, and town council continues to work toward finding solutions.

Plans are in the works to improve dykes and hold a community meeting to let residents know what has been done to-date and what the town plans to do in the future to alleviate concerns.

Councillors reviewed a letter at a recent council advisory committee (CAC) meeting from Jocelyn and Scott Nicholson of West Main Street outlining their concerns about flooding situations that have affected their property. They experienced flooding again Feb. 18 and 19 of this year and made reference to the major flood of late March and early April 2003.

The Nicholsons brought up the engineering consultants’ report that followed the 2003 flood and reiterated that the bottleneck situation in the Cornwallis River must be addressed, as this contributes to flooding. This should be given consideration as plans for a study exploring a new bridge are in the works.

Public meeting this spring: Corkum

Councillors voted in favour of sending the Nicholsons’ letter to the Transportation Services Committee and to have any correspondence to and from these residents to be copied to council members for their information at the March council session.

Councillor Dennis Kehoe said he supports responding to the letter and asked if the communication could be broader than simply sending a response to the Nicholsons. Mayor Dave Corkum said the intention is to have a public meeting this spring to address flood prevention measures.

Kehoe said once the town builds the dykes they have planned, they would have spent over $400,000 to help alleviate flooding. He said council is giving it consideration and attention, but it’s a complex problem that has existed for over 100 years and “we’re being asked to solve it overnight.”

Councillor Larry Honey said Transportation Services had looked at the letter and drafted a response, but held off sending it until council had a chance to discuss the matter. He said a copy of the response would come to council and he suggested that the response could be printed in the mayor’s newsletter to the community.

Councillor Eric Bolland said residents on the street have experienced recent flooding and people are very upset. “The sooner we can hold a meeting the better,” he said.

Corkum said the town has spent about $200,000 on a culvert to carry storm water away from higher elevations to the river and the next step is to spend about $250,000 on dykes to keep water in the river, although land must be acquired first.