By Dan Singleton
MVC Staff
An ad hoc committee made up of Sundre residents and business owners has called on Mountain View County council to take action to prevent future flooding of the Red Deer River upstream of the town.
High water upstream of Sundre caused overland flooding of private and public land starting on June 20.
Although there have been no reports of injuries, there has been widespread infrastructure damage in the area, and in particular at the Coyote Creek RV and Golf Resort.
During the June 26 regularly scheduled MVC council meeting, delegation member Myron Thompson, a former MP, said the county should hire local contactors to go into the river, dredge it and create berms. “I think the people who have worked in this area for all those years, with pipeline crossings and building certain things, have done a great job doing it,” said Thompson. “I believe the county needs to make some decisions and simply say, How much would it cost us? You have the skills and the knowledge to start doing it. Go in and do it now'.
“There have been studies and studies and studies. I'm sick of it. You've spent enough money. You've got a problem so get in there and get it fixed.”
Liz Negropontes, another delegation member, called on the county to pressure the provincial and federal governments to conduct flood prevention work.
“Why can't that river be banked and fortified?” said Negropontes, a former MVC councillor. “Of course it will cost, but it will preserve our water and we will have a proper flow that isn't a scary feature every year.
“Put the money into it, and I'm not just saying Mountain View County. I'm saying the province and feds and let's get it done. You can channel these rivers. Look at the waste of land. It's a desert of rock now.
“They don't know what they are doing in Edmonton, that's for sure, but they can flip the switch and let us get at it. We have people who will take their equipment and volunteer their time to get it done.
“It is time to say just say no to the province and push them back to where they belong. It's the bureaucrats who are making the decision. As a county we have to be a leader and say, OK enough.”
Tom Mennear, another delegation member and Sundre business owner, told council the municipality should take the initiative to remove debris from the river upstream of Sundre.
“Why haven't we cleaned the debris out of the river, all of these roots and trees and got them to the banks? Why have we just sat there? What is Sundre worth? What is the county worth?” said Mennear.
“I would like to see the County of Mountain View as a rebel. We aren't being pushed by the provincial government. Let's stand up and do something and get recognized. Are we saying, yes, yes, yes to some bureaucrat who has never seen our area?”
Susan Mayfield and Jim Meitl have a house and property on Rge. Rd. 60 upstream of Sundre.
They told council that a berm the county built in 2011 has resulted in water being funnelled onto their property, creating widespread damage.
“The value of our property has been significantly destroyed,” said Mayfield.
Meitl told council they may consider legal action to address their concerns.
Reeve Beattie said MVC has been working hard to find solutions to the flooding concerns west of Sundre. “I don't know how much time we've spent talking here and going to Edmonton,” said Beattie “It's not like we've been ignoring this. There's an end to where the money comes from. Everybody wants to have something but they don't want taxes to go up.
“We haven't sat back and done nothing. We've done a lot of things, and this isn't the only part of the county we've had to deal with.”
Beattie said council will “take all those comments (from the delegation) into account and have further discussions and see where we are at.”
Coun. Kevin Good said he “appreciates the public input.”
