Residents along Pheasant Grove in the City are not pleased with how a drainage ditch out their backyards looks.
And Monday Glen Walsh, one of the residents affected by the ditch, was at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council to voice his displeasure.
The drainage ditch is part of the Whitesand Drive Stormwater Improvements, but Walsh said the ditch is having a detrimental effect to residents on the north side of Pheasant Grove.
“The big part of our concern is property values,” he said.
While admitting no homes have sold recently to gauge the impact he said the unsightly ditch had to affect the value, adding the ditch is about 38-feet across at the top, and about seven-feet deep.
Walsh said their preference would be to have a drainage pipe installed and covered to address the situation.
If that is not possible Walsh said the residents would like to be part of discussions for undertaking landscaping, building a possible walking bridge and addressing walking trails.
After Walsh’s presentation Council received a report on the situation.
The material noted, “At the October 29, 2018 meeting of Council, Administration was directed to award the contract for the Whitesand Drive Stormwater Improvements to Wyonzek Bros. Constr. Ltd. for $880,686.45 with a total project budget of $1,200,000.
“This project mainly consists of a 1.2 m diameter PVC pipe extending from the intersection of Whitesand Drive and the southern leg of Pheasant Cove, north to York Road. The pipe would then extend east from the intersection of York Road and Whitesand Drive to an open cut ditch with 3:1 side slopes to the ditch outlet near the Yorkton Creek.”
“Since the contract was awarded, the contractor has cut in almost all the open ditch portion of the contract. The ditch has not been top soiled or landscaped yet and the remainder of the construction is scheduled to take place as soon as possible in the spring,” added, René Richard, Director of Engineering & Asset Management, with the City.
Richard added, since the construction of the ditch began, several concerns have been received from some of the homeowner on the north leg of Pheasant Cove and on January 16, 2019, correspondence was received from a group of residents suggesting two potential options for Council to consider instead of the open ditch that has been constructed.
The first option was to install pipe at the location of the new ditch and bury the pipe.
This option could likely be added to the existing contract but would cost an estimated additional $510,000 making the total project $1,710,000. It is not known if the contractor would be available to extend his timeline on this project, said Richards.
The second option was to Instead of the proposed alignment, install 1.2 meter diameter PVC pipe from the intersection of Whitesand Drive and the southern leg of Pheasant Cove south to Madge Way and then east to the outlet at Yorkton Creek.
This is the same alignment that was preliminarily proposed in the Integrated Engineering drainage mitigation study that was presented to Council in January of 2017, said Richard.
“At the time of the study, it was anticipated that major roadwork would be necessary on Madge Way so the storm sewer upgrade could be potentially part of that. Since then, repairs have been completed to Madge Way, and there are no anticipated major road improvements in the near future,” he said.
“Ultimately the alignment that was awarded in the contract last October was chosen because the piping lengths required are much shorter, and much less asphalt roadway would need to be reinstated therefore reducing overall project costs greatly.
“The 2017 drainage study estimated that the Madge Way alignment would cost approximately $1,630,000. With two years passed since the study, it should be noted that the estimate provided is now somewhat dated. The actual costs for the current Whitesand Drive Stormwater Project were much greater than estimated so it’s likely the Madge Way alignment estimate of $1,630,000 is also on the low side. Detailed design was never completed for Madge Way so clearing existing utilities over a longer length would likely bring about additional challenges.
Since the contract for Whitesand Drive Stormwater Improvements has already been awarded, it is unknown if the contractor would be willing to wait for a detailed design for Madge Way or again if he would be available to extend his timeline.”
In the end Council was unanimous in proceeding with the contract for the Whitesand Drive Stormwater Improvements as it currently stands.
