Svjetlana mlinarevic

Svjetlana Mlinarevic

Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune

October 15, 2017

 

Two hundred Wedgewood residents have signed a petition calling on the County of Grande Prairie to fix the sloping issue in the area.

 

“It’s a much larger issue than just the neighbours that are directly involved cause it’s a Mother Nature problem and a lack of good infrastructure that was not put in when the subdivision was developed. We are getting the brunt of it and there’s more water into the Bear Creek...so you’ve got that issue where there’s more water volume pulling from the creek (bank),” said resident Carmen Haakstad.

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Haakstad and four other neighbours began lobbying the county to repair the slope in 2015. The municipality approved funding half of a $70,000 survey by SNC-Lavalin, which was released this July.

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The report found rainfall and precipitation are linked to slope instability, but that there has been no downward or upward trend of precipitation in Grande Prairie other than six episodes of heavy rainfall between 1983 and 2016. The report also noted there are seepage areas on the slope from groundwater.

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The study further found the soil is made up of silt and sand sitting on clay with a bedrock base. The 11m to 19m deposits were measured to be moist-to-wet and soft-firm in consistency.

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The study was conducted in 1993 for a nine-hole golf course that was being considered for the site. The consulting firm determined the risk of slope instability was too high and that it would be too expensive to mitigate the slope. Further, should the project be built, it would cost too much to remediate.

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However, the report did indicate development was possible if nine requirements were first met: two of which were to build 10m away from the crest of the slope and to get the in-ground and above-ground water under control.

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Any work to remediate the problem could cost between $1 million and $5 million. Homeowners invested about $250,000 in 2015 to try and fix the slope.

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Homeowners have given their petition to Reeve Leanne Beaupre, who was the sole vote in chambers to fix the slopping issue when residents lobbied the county again in August. It has been the county’s position that it has no legal obligation to fix the slope, that the slope is on private land, and the use of taxpayers dollars for the slopping issue couldn’t be justified.

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“It can be fixed but it has to have proper drainage right down to the creek, even from the front of our homes, they talk about French drains and shoring up the bank of the creek, which shores up the bottom of the hill verses the top of the hill,” said Haakstad.

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“None of that can be done on the homeowners property, that’s on either the county’s land...it could be the province...but it’s definitely a problem that won’t go away without it being fixed. It’s affecting all of Wedgewood...”

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Haakstad said residents who are trying to sell their homes in the neighbourhood are having difficulty doing so becasue no one wants to buy in Wedgewood and that has forced residents to reduce their asking price.

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Property values have also dropped for Haakstad and his neighbours who live directly on the creek bank. One homeowner’s property was evaluated by the county at $560,000 in 2016; now its worth $277,000, while another resident’s home was evaluated at $680,000 and is currently worth about $300,000.

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Haakstad said if the county refuses to fix the issue residents will seek legal means to resolve the problem.

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“I hate to do that but we feel the issue of building permits should not have been issued. It was on unstable land and we’ve done research and we’ve seen that. And the fact that they are not extending a hand to help their citizens when we pay taxes, we feel that if there is no other course we will have to put a class action suit against the county.”

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