A preliminary engineering assessment is currently underway for a proposed flood mitigation concept in Bragg Creek, after Rocky View County (RVC) council approved a grant from the Government of Alberta for $173,000 on Dec. 9.
“Early last year, the province came out with a concept for some flood-walling in Bragg Creek that would help provide mitigation and some flood relief to the hamlet itself,” said RVC Infrastructure and Operations Manager Byron Riemann. “When we held an open house in mid-2014, there were a lot of questions from residents that we couldn’t answer.”
According to Riemann, area residents inquired about the footprint of the berm, and how high it would be. The concept plan also had the berm going across private landowners’ property. Area Councillor Liz Breakey could not be reached for comment about how this concept may impact residents within her division.
“In the concept the Province didn’t have a lot of engineering to support what the final shape and form and location would be for the berm, so we suggested that we advance to the next stage, which would be to do that engineering,” Riemann said.
RVC administration applied for a grant through Municipal Affairs, which was submitted on Oct. 13. The grant application was approved by the Government of Alberta on Nov. 12.
“It was turned around quite quickly, and we were very pleased with that,” said Riemann. “With this study, we will be able to get all the details – geotechnical evaluations, environmental assessments – and then start getting into what the design needs to do to take into account all of that information.”
According to Riemann, RVC has already received funding from the Government of Alberta to cover the cost of construction of the design in the amount of $6.1 million. However, Riemann said the challenge now is to see if the design is still acceptable within that amount.
“We may have to go back and talk to the province about what we need in addition for this project,” he said. “It’s hard to say right now what the cost of this will be until we get further information.”
The deadline to complete the preliminary engineering study is March 31, 2015.
