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Flooding Problem |
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Flooding Problem |
Elyse DeBruyn - Kincardine News Staff
Wednesday January 16, 2008
Not many people can say they have to canoe to their front door, but for an Inverhuron man, its a daily activity after a heavy rain.
Inverhuron's Kurt Romanishen lives on Whisper Lane.
Like any other resident who lives close to the beach, his property is surrounded by trees, offering privacy - something the local residents cherish and enjoy.
However, for many years, this quiet dead end road with a few seasonal and year-round residents living next door to each other, has suffered through flood after flood, year after year.
The water levels get so high that Romanishen can only walk about half way down the 400 foot gravel road before jumping in his canoe and paddling the rest of the way home.
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It's a strange time of year to be canoeing," he laughed. "It cuts down on company for sure."
The flood covers about an acre of land in total and reaches his driveway, creeping ever so slowly up to his front door.
About six feet away from the end of his driveway, the depth of last week's flood reached about four feet.
However, a few more feet north, the depth drops to about six feet.
This is at it's low point right now," said Romanishen. "I've seen it so high that the water was an inch or two from my floor."
He is able to walk behind his neighbours properties to avoid the flood, but it takes longer.
"I'm lucky I have good neighbours who don't mind me walking on their property or else I would be trespassing," he said.
This excessive flooding happens after a heavy rain in the summer, when the snow melts each spring and now, in January when Bruce County has an irregular thaw.
Romanishen is using a three-inch pump to keep the water away from his house.
However, in the past, he has had to call in the Tiverton Fire Department to run a 24-hour pump just to keep the water away.
My worry is that a child could come down here to play and end up drowning," he said. "Another concern is there is no fire protection. It would be very hard for an ambulance or a fire truck to get to me in an emergency with four or five feet of water to get through."
Romanishen's knows of two reasons for the flooding.
The clay bottom under the soil and the culvert running east to west under Albert Street, Inverhuron's main road. The rainwater runoff travels down towards the lake, hitting the culvert, passing under Albert St. and right onto the properties of Whisper Lane.
That's where 90 per cent of this water (on Whisper Lane land) comes from," Romanishen said. "Something needs to be done."
There is no ditch on the west side of Albert St., which Romanishen said would make a huge difference in the amount of water that accumulates on his property.
The first suggestion he had for the Municipality of Kincardine is to change the culvert into a ditch, which he says would be less costly than other ideas.
Romanishen has taken this issue to Kincardine council several times, but said he's gotten nowhere.
"They gave me lip service," he said.
After talking to a council member, Romanishen was told one solution would see a municipal drain installed on John St., running it north until it reaches Lake Huron.
"But they want us to pay for it," he said.
Last year, Romanishen invited council out to see what was happening for themselves. According to him, one councillor was receptive, stating "if this was Kincardine, it would have been fixed by now."
Deputy Mayor/Public Works Committee Chair Laura Haight said council attended an Inverhuron District Ratepayers meeting last year and discussed the possibility of redirecting the water.
"We got the sense that there was no interest. There wasn't a vote, it was just a sense," said Haight.
Romanishen was working with Bruce Township council before it amalgamated with the Municipality of Kincardine, to figure out a solution.
"They didn't know what to do about it, but they were working on it," he said.
Haight said about 12 years ago, Bruce Township did a study that suggested the solution be to direct water "away above Inverhuron," and direct it south to the county ditch and north to the gravel pit.
However, residents didn't seem too interested in paying the costs.
At that time, she said, it would have cost thousands of dollars and could cost even more now.
"I don't know what the answer would be. We have to face the facts that people don't want to pay," said Haight. "I'd like to help him. I think redoing the report is a good idea."
She said although a solution wasn't well received at the ratepayers meeting, it can be done with the help of a grant program.
To repair the problem, Romanishen is worried he, along with the neighbours, will lose their privacy as the suggestion by Kincardine council was to widen Whisper Lane in order to put the municipal drain in. This would require cutting down several privacy trees.
Although he has asked council to consider a solution, Romanishen said he's "not holding my breath."
Property assessments are another factor Romanishen has been fighting off for some time.
"It's more than just water, it's flooding. They can tell me my house is worth so much all they want, but the fact is I can't sell this place with a problem like this," he said.
Whisper Lane holds sentimental value to Romanishen, as his grandfather built the road and one of the homes. His father and his uncle built the two neighbouring homes and he currently lives in one. The Romanishens have owned property on Whisper Lane since 1955
However, his neighbour across the Lane bought the property about a year ago and was never told about the extreme flooding.
"Well, he's not very happy that he wasn't informed of it before moving in," Romanishen said.
Public works manager Jim O'Rourke was unavailable for comment.
Editorial Kincardine News
Strange flooding conditions Wednesday January 16, 2008
Our front page story this week brought a bit of a laugh at first glance, but for Mr. Romanishen... it doesn't seem like a laughing matter at all.
From the looks of it, the municipal government is looking to have him and his neighbours pay the cost to drain this area, when it's marked on the map as a municipal road. This doesn't seem right.
When it comes to a drainage issue on private property, there's no argument that the party owning the land should pay the freight.
But when a municipal road can't be accessed because of a flooding issue like this, the municipality bears some, if not the majority of responsibility
How is he to sell this property with this problem on a municipal lane? It seems anyone would be outraged if something like this were happening to them.
I'm surprised the Inverhuron Ratepayers Association hasn't jumped on the municipality to help protect one of its own.
It seems like somewhat of a minor problem to fix in comparison to a lot of the issues that have surfaced across the municipality, especially financially.
The owner is looking for a ditch to be dug so the water can run away from the property and into the lake.
Why can't that be accommodated, when it will have a significant impact on the few residents that live on Whisper Lane?
Our reporter's 'canoe trip' with Mr. Romanishen is evidence enough that this is something out of the ordinary. It's not everyday that a person has to canoe to their property... especially in the Municipality of Kincardine.
Unless you're coming from Michigan
Hopefully the municipal staff and council will take it upon themselves to help remedy this problem
The County of Bruce is going to do the following improvements to the drain along Bruce County Rd 15 from Albert Rd to the lake this year.
The changes are as follows:
- Survey the north ditch between Albert Rd. to the existing 12-inch inlet.
- Approach Kincardine to obtain 17-feet of widening along their park frontage This step is completed.
- Approach the adjacent landowner west of the Kincardine property to also obtain 17-feet of widening, at least along the frontage to where the 12-inch inlet exists.
- Install a new inlet structure on the 12-inch system.
- Improve the north ditch from Albert Rd. to improved Inlet.
- Upgrades at the beach outlet.
This information is from the County of Bruce.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.
From THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF KINCARDINE
Council Minutes of Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Mayor Kraemer provided an update from County Council:
- Roads - widening of ditch/road at County Road 15 and Inverhuron -
$30M for expansion of drain
NOTE - To cottage owners on Wednesday February 11, 2009 some flooding happened at Inverhuron.
revised 2010 Mar 10