An environmentally sensitive area will continue to be monitored after three rock dams were initially placed there due to erosion runoff from the new Michener Hill Village seniors housing complex.
City council agreed on Monday to support the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary committee recommendations concerning erosion controls for the sanctuary.
The sanctuary is described as a very sensitive area while the Gaetz Lakes ravine is even more sensitive with its steep slopes, sensitive soils, springs, and great number of plants ranging from huge spruce to small ferns.
The committee suggested the city’s Public Works Department review potential alterations for the downstream end of the culvert for the purposes of minimizing erosion, and potential solutions be presented to the committee prior to taking on any work in the ravine.
Last year, three rock dams were built upstream of 55th Street in order to protect the sanctuary and ravine. The ravine is the last surface creek that feeds the lake. The seniors complex is on 15 acres directly west of the Clearview subdivision and north of Ross Street.
Engineering Services manager Frank Colosimo said the city will be monitoring the area over the next five to 10 years to see if any more work needs to be done due to any runoff.
“If the development was here or not, it would still cause erosion,” Colosimo said. “We just want to see if the (runoff erosion) is acceptable or not.”
More rock dams could be put in but that is only one of several solutions that could be done, he added.
Colosimo said the present dams are working.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com