Dike redesign concerns St Adolphe residents

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This article was published 04/10/2015 (3126 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

St Adolphe residents are voicing new concerns over the dike expansion plan in the RM of Ritchot.

On Sept. 21, Ritchot held a meeting to discuss resident’s concerns about design changes to the dike expansion plan which affected the southwest corner of the plan.

Originally the expansion plan would stop before Provincial Road 200, but residents started asking questions when the plan was changed to extend over PR 200.

“This plan was never released until we [the residents] started asking and emailing questions and got the town meeting,” said St Adolphe resident Arun Rebello. “Even now this map is hard to find. I found out when my neighbour told me two weeks before the bulldozers took out the trees. During the time I was trying to get answers from the RM.”

Mayor Jackie Hunt said the change wasn’t a secret, just a lack of communication with the residents. She said it was an oversight on the RM’s part that the residents weren’t notified in the redesign process to encompass PR 200.

Rebello also questions why a water flow study was never conducted with the new changes.

“My issue I have is that a water flow study was never done. The study they did involved water height and width. With the new dike that goes east and west like a wall, the water is forced to stop and change direction,” said Rebello. “My property is 145 feet from their new dike and I am concerned that it can erode my [private] dike.”

Out of the 40 people who attended the meeting, Rebello said he isn’t the only resident with these concerns.

“From the meeting lots of people had the exact same concerns that I have,” said Rebello. “It seems like lots of people were told the flow study was done and it was not.”

Hunt said the Ritchot has never seen a project this size and though it’s not an excuse, they’re learning during the process as well.

Another concern residents brought up is the Crow Wing Trail, a section of the Trans Canada Trail, goes right through the dike plans and connects to PR 200.

Hunt said this trail is used by residents south of town to get into the community safely.

However, this route poses new safety concerns because is part of the dike construction site.

“It didn’t hit our radar until residents brought it up,” said Hunt. “We had to make a decision for safety reasons.”

Hunt said the RM had to close that portion of the trail temporarily to ensure safety.

“I was very surprised that they did not consider the people who use the walk away regularly,” said Rebello. “For the next two years of this build, the people and children will have to walk down the highway to get to town and school. It really seems that the people outside of the town ring dike are not important and not considered in their planning.”

The project is still expected to move forward, despite residential concerns.