Save Our Sundre (SOS) committee member and Sundre town councillor Myron Thompson says he will be expecting the provincial government to keep an assurance made to him regarding riverbank stabilization in town.
During a provincial cabinet minister visit to Sundre on Feb. 9, Treasury Board Chairman Lloyd Snelgrove told committee members that the provincial government will likely be able to find money for stabilization work if the committee can get permission permits from federal Oceans and Fisheries, said Thompson.
ìHe (Snelgrove) wants us to work on the MP to get a letter from Fisheries and Oceans that they will let the province do this project without any interference,î said Thompson.
In response, Thompson says he has now been in contact with Wild Rose Conservative MP Blake Richards about the matter.
ìI phoned Blake and he's got on it with his crew and they are going to the minister to try and achieve that,î he said.
ìIf that is affirmative, if it's a positive response, then we will get a hold of Snelgrove and say, ëWe've got it and now the next thing we expect is the money to get that river fixed'.î
Three years ago, Thompson received assurances from Oceans and Fisheries that they would not oppose stabilization work on the riverbank in Sundre. However, there is now a new minister of the department, meaning permission must be sought a second time.
ìI had that permission, but that was a different minister so we have to re-do the whole thing,î he said.
Formed under the auspices of the Sundre and District Chamber of Commerce following flooding in the region in 2005, the SOS committee says flooding protection on the west bank of the Red Deer River in town is a must.
If that protection is not put in place, the risk to people and property in town will remain a real and present danger, the committee says.
The SOS committee has made numerous calls for provincial government funding for the banks stabilization work.
SOS committee chairman Jim Eklund says the committee plans to continue to push for provincial funding until it arrives.
Riverbank erosion along the west bank of the river has continued unabated since 2005, pushing the river closer and closer to the Riverside RV Park and other infrastructure.
ìRight now Riverside is just a buffer and it (riverbank) is eroding. Eventually, if nothing happens, it will take out town property and it will take out private property. It will come right into town,î said Eklund.
An $85,000 River Engineering Study and Design of the River Bank Protection Works of the Red Deer River at Riverside RV Park study was completed last year at the request of town council.
The report has been submitted to Alberta Environment and the federal department of Oceans and Fisheries, accompanied by a request for funding to undertake remediation work. No funding has been forthcoming.
The report put forward four options for remediation of the threatened west side riverbank in southwest Sundre; the options range in price from $1.58 million to $2.75 million.
The town later accepted the $2.75 million option that calls for rock riprap bank protection from downstream of the current gabion protection works to the Prairie Creek where it enters the Red Deer River.
If and when provincial money is made available, Thompson said he would like to see the stabilization work get underway without delay.
ìAny way they want to do it, just get at it because we've got to get at least an initial phase done to protect the most critical areas. We want to get at it this spring,î he said.
Thompson says he has been told that the snowpack in the mountains west of Sundre is high this year.
