City earmarks $18M to bolster riverbanks in parks

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This article was published 14/03/2024 (586 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After dedicating no funding to riverbank stabilization in 2023, the City of Winnipeg is poised to spend $18 million on the work over the next six years.

“I was delighted to see it… This is way better, it gets us going. It’s not private property (that will be repaired) but it’s at least these parks that are falling into the river,” said Coun. Brian Mayes, chairman of the water and waste committee.

The 2024 to 2029 capital budget calls to reverse the cut, if approved by council.

The city spent $1 million in 2017 and $500,000 per year from 2018 to 2020 on riverbank stabilization. That fell to $100,000 in 2021 and $312,000 in 2022, when only money left over from other public works projects were spent on it.

The funding dropped to zilch last year but is set to ramp up to $3 million this year.

Mayes said Guay Park had severe erosion before its riverbank was shored up and protected in his St. Vital ward several years ago, while land around the Canoe Club golf course on Dunkirk Drive remains at risk.

He noted the city ranks repairs by priority level.

“It’s certainly meant to ensure that we’re not having cave-ins and (severe) erosion,” said Mayes.

Kendall Thiessen, the city’s riverbank management engineer, said the funding protects city land with public access, such as parks and active transportation paths.

Thiessen said erosion is continuous but increases during flood events and wet weather.

“In 2022, we saw a lot more erosion, with the rains combined with the high-water levels (saturating) the banks … There were a number of major slope failures that occurred both on private and public land that raised awareness. For example, the stabilization work that was done, sort of on an emergency basis, along St. Mary’s Road at Vivian (Avenue) was fallout from 2022,” he said.

Thiessen noted some municipal slope repairs can be completed by other departments to support pipe and road projects.

During a Thursday budget meeting, the water and waste committee also voted to devote $10 million in recently announced provincial funding to rehabilitate and monitor wastewater infrastructure at river crossings.

The province announced the money after a city pipe failure dumped 228 million litres of raw sewage into the Red River between Feb. 7 and 23.

If council approves, the motion calls for that money to help fund a pipe replacement project at the site, which an early estimate predicts will cost about $20 million.

Mayes noted inspectors regularly gauge any risk of a spill.

“It is good we do these periodic inspections… (and) the more of this sort of preventative work we can do, the better,” he said.

The water and waste capital budget also proposes $85 million by 2028 for an overall $94-million southwest interceptor project. While its primary goal is to accommodate population growth, it is also intended to act as a backup to mitigate the damage from future sewage spills.

“If we’d had that in place, we could have re-routed some of the sewage that was spilling into the river (last month),” said Mayes.

Earlier in the meeting, a delegate asked why the preliminary budget lacks a clear funding line for the next two phases of the city’s most expensive infrastructure project, the $2.3-billion north end sewage treatment plant upgrade.

“The city is really at risk of being (unable) to manage a major project, even when the future of Lake Winnipeg and the future of our development growth depends on it,” said Tanya Palson, executive director of Manitoba Building Trades.

However, city officials said a funding plan for the second phase of the project is in place.

“The reason (the biosolids facilities phase) is nowhere in this 364-page (capital budget) document is because it was so urgent for us to procure the dollars… last September we came to council and got $482 million added (to the project budget),” said Winnipeg water and waste director Tim Shanks.

Following the cost hike, the budget for that phase of the project grew to more than $1 billion. The city has no current cost estimate for, or plan to fund, the third and final nutrient-removal phase.

Meanwhile, Mayes is now backing calls to reconsider at least one pool closure proposed in the budget.

“I think Coun. (Sherri) Rollins said she hopes to see at least one of them saved, so I would agree with that… We’ve had a ton of feedback on this,” he said.

The councillor noted he’s leaning toward supporting efforts to keep the Windsor Park outdoor pool open. The Happyland outdoor and Eldon Ross indoor pools are also currently slated to close in the preliminary budget.

Council will cast the final vote on its operating and capital budget on March 20.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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