By Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News
The Ridgetown Stormwater Master Plan’s 30-day public review period ends this Sunday.
The plan has been available on the municipality’s Let’s Take Chatham-Kent (www.letstalkchatham-kent.ca) since January 4.
The section dedicated to the Ridgetown master plan contains an overview since the process began and documents containing the notice of completion and final report.
Placing the master plan report for public review completes the project’s planning stage.
Anyone with questions or comments is encouraged to submit their concerns before Sunday, February 12.
Mark McFadden, Chatham-Kent’s Engineering Manager, does not expect many, if any, submissions since the public had the opportunity to comment during the initial online consultation that was launched on August 31, 2020, and on the online Public Information Centre from February 23 to March 31, 2022, which were both on Let’s Talk CK.
The report stated 10 questions were submitted by the public during the PIC, including flooding concerns on Cecil Street and Victoria Ave., as well as concerns that flooding issues in the Warwick subdivision would worsen when the proposed Highland subdivision is built.
Only one question was submitted from the initial consultation.
Matrix Solutions Inc. worked with the municipality to complete the preferred solutions that are laid out in the master plan.
The town’s storm sewer network was consolidated into eight service areas, each evaluated to identify the preferred solutions.
The evaluation identified 10 projects, including storm sewer upsizing, new trunk storm sewers, and new stormwater retention ponds.
An additional 29 local storm sewer upgrades were identified through the storm sewer condition assessment.
McFadden said areas identified as high-priority projects that require capital funding would be placed and prioritized on the municipality’s capital project list.
Some projects will have to go through the drainage act, while others will be lifecycle projects, which include storm sewer replacements.
“As part of this project, we investigated all storm sewers throughout Ridgetown, and they were graded based on their condition and age and grouped of how critical it is to replace those.”
McFadden said the consulting firm would finalize the master plan and submit it to the ministry for approval, likely within two months.
But the municipality can begin addressing some concerns, pending approval and funding from council.
“We already have ideas on some of the priority projects that need to be addressed immediately, and we’re looking into going forward with some of those already,” McFadden said.
Some projects have lengthy timelines, as it could take upwards of 20-30 years to reconstruct the town’s sewer system completely.
“We already completed the Tilbury stormwater master study that highlighted priority projects, and it has similar timelines (as Ridgetown),” McFadden said. “There are sewer separation projects that are a big priority in Chatham and other communities with older infrastructure that must be replaced.”
“This is a framework and guideline to help us understand where improvements need to be made and in the future where our main trunks and stormwater facilities need to be constructed,” he said.
McFadden noted that, eventually, every community in Chatham-Kent will benefit by having a wastewater study conducted.
All projects, naturally, will be subject to approval by council through the budget process.
