SPEAK UP – NOW IS THE TIME!
If you would like to see the City of Calgary build flood mitigation infrastructure to protect your home, the downtown Core and the many other parts of Calgary impacted by 2013 flooding, now is your time to speak up!
As recently reported in the media, the City has compiled a list of Calgary specific projects for submission to the Province for access to the Provincial Mitigation/Resiliency Program Funding (attached). The total cost of the dozens of different proposed projects came to $900 million dollars. Of that, $300 million is requested for the Glenmore Bypass to Bow River project (p-53 in the attached document), and other important projects include storm sewer upgrades (P-49) and permanent community berms and dykes (P-52). Projected costs of the Glenmore Bypass are to be determined by a feasibility study presently underway, to be presented in June.
It was also recently reported in the media that Mayor Nenshi isn’t sure the City would actually commit to funding all these projects if not funded by the Province’s grant program. Mayor Nenshi was quoted in the Calgary Herald yesterday as stating, “I do not want this to become a back door to a very large capital budget ask or bunch of nice-to-have stuff”. The City is now refining the list to identify high and low priorities.
People need to understand, including our elected representatives making these crucial decisions on our behalf, that the 2013 flooding was not a one-off anomaly. What was anomalous was the 80 years the City went without a major flood. Floods much larger than the 2013 event have struck Calgary, and when one strikes again, the impact on the downtown Core and the businesses located there will exponentially outweigh what occurred last June (being itself +$6B in damages and +5M lost productivity hours). The time for the City to finally address this substantial risk is now.
Because of its overall benefits to the entire City (along with dry dams now under consideration by the Province), the Glenmore Bypass and these key large scale infrastructure projects must be identified as highest priority City projects. If you do not want these to end up on the “nice-to-have” list, when we urge you to contact your representativesimmediately and express your concern.
Contact information for Calgary Councillors:
Ward 1: Ward.sutherland@calgary.ca
Ward 7: Druh.farrell@calgary.ca
Ward 8: Evan.woolley@calgary.ca
Ward 9: ward09@calgary.ca
Ward 11: ward11@calgary.ca and Brian.Pincott@calgary.ca
Mayor’s Office:
themayor@calgary.ca