Update: July 5, 2019
After a busy few months, Phase II of our Lorne Street Stormwater Mitigation Project is now pretty much complete!
Birch Hill Construction put the finishing touches on the project over the last few days. Several benches have been installed, top soil was added in specific areas, and some hydro seeding was carried out near Lorne and Crescent Street, and along St. James Street, to tidy things up. Five new red maple trees were also planted along St. James Street with more to come in the fall. We’re very pleased with how it’s all turned out, and you can already see marsh grass and other native plant species starting to come to life. The service roads are already seeing pedestrians and cyclists, and a variety of ducks and other birds have moved in to make themselves at home.
Over the next few months we will be installing interpretive panels in strategic areas around the stormwater retention pond that will explain why it was constructed, how it works, and the benefits it provides. We’re also continuing to work with Ducks Unlimited on a new compound that they will be constructing on the north side of St. James Street this summer. Depending on the balance of the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund, some other improvements may be undertaken, but that will be determined in the weeks ahead.
This has been a very complex development and like all major civil engineering projects of this nature, it came with its ups and downs. In the end, despite it taking a little longer than anticipated, we’re still within our overall project funding through the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund. We also have a fantastic new ecologically diverse engineering and recreational asset in our community that our residents can enjoy.
As we’ve noted in every post along the way – with this being our 12th update – we want to sincerely thank our residents and business community who supported this project from the start. This was a big undertaking, and was a multidimensional project, but we did it.
Despite this phase being completed, we want to continue to remind residents that this is a short-term solution but allowed us to make significant improvements with the funding that is available. This new naturalized stormwater retention pond provides 40,000 cubic metres of storage. We need 100,000 cubic metre of storage to be able to accommodate a 1 in 100-year storm event, so we still have work to do. Our long-term stormwater management plan remains unchanged, which will eventually see stormwater redirected to the Tantramar River (near our Engineering and Public Works facility) via a new large drainage ditch. This work will only be possible with future funding and we will still need the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to undertake a new, lower aboiteau at the River. Until the long-term goal is achieved, this area of our community will still be vulnerable to flooding.
We want residents to know that we’re committed to the long-term plan. The Town has submitted an Expression of Interest under the Integrated Bilateral Agreement for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. The application for Phase III of the Lorne Street Stormwater Mitigation Project was submitted on June 28, 2019. Wish us luck!
For all of us here at the Town of Sackville, thank you.
If you have any questions about this project, please contact Jamie Burke, Senior Manager of Corporate Projects, at 364-4930 or j.burke@sackville.com.