CENTRE WELLINGTON – While council agrees the township's stormwater system needs improvement, they remain torn over whether to bring the existing system up to township standards or enhance it further.
According to a report on the Stormwater Management Master Plan presented during a Centre Wellington council meeting Monday afternoon, staff recommended upgrading its stormwater system to township standards over the next decade as the best option for council to provide "a balance of functionality" while being fiscally responsible.
The plan presented council with three options: upgrade to township standards, upgrade to a higher standard, or do nothing.
Township standards require the system to handle the amount of water created by a five-year storm; upgrading the system would mean accommodating a 100-year storm.
Only 43 per cent of the township's storm sewers can handle water flow as per the township's current standards.
However, Mayor Shawn Watters said he's worried improving the system might not be enough considering new developments and asked staff to explore the feasibility of upgrading the system to withstand a 100-year storm event.
"I know we've identified (the areas) that need to be upgraded to five years which is great but I think we need to do some really hard evaluation on some of our other facilities," said Watters.
"We're going to have more of those (100-year storms), maybe one or two, possibly a year so that that for me is very concerning and it's something that we need to get our community ready for...I think we need to be proactive."
If the improvement option is selected, staff said it would cost approximately $11,300,000 for eight short-term projects with identified deficiencies not posing immediate risk and taking place within the next 10 years.
To be constructed at least 10 years in the future, the estimated cost for long-term projects is approximately $44,600,000.
The areas identified for improvement projects include Walter Street and Victoria Street in Salem, Melville Street, North Queen Street, Irvine Street, Colborne Street and Wilson Crescent in Elora and Prince's Street, Braeside Road, Perth Street and Anderson Street North in Fergus.
Staff said any roads listed that were recently reconstructed will be upgraded at "some point in time," not necessarily within the next few years.
It's recommended the township consider different financing options, including creating a new stormwater utility to collect users' fees and finance future stormwater infrastructure replacements and upgrades.
Township staff are proposing to investigate the creation of a new stormwater utility as part of the planned 2025 Water and Wastewater Rate Study.
Other recommendations include monitoring the township's rainfall curves to reflect increasing storm intensity observed with climate change, develop minimum infiltration and retention targets for Low Impact Development and enhance policies and guidelines around low-impact development and green infrastructure.
It's also recommended the township continue developing and refining operation and maintenance procedures for stormwater infrastructure to ensure they function as designed.
Council will choose its preferred alternative at the April 29 meeting.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
