September
2, 2014
RE:
Regional Road 73 (Mud St.) Culvert – VanBuuren Drain – Flooding
Dear
Mr. xxxx:
Thank
you for responding to my email of August 31, 2014 regarding the
repair and maintenance you are responsible for. As I mentioned in my
email Municipalities that fail to carry out drain repairs can be held
liable. I appreciate you cooperation, however the tone that you have
set in your response is quite offensive.
According
to your comments you still don’t understand “what the issue is”
and everything is “fabricated from speculation” Nothing is
fabricated. What do you not understand, the flooding pictures, the
flooding videos? Do you not understand the urgency and severity of
this situation?
Are
you claiming that you do have a report that was sent to you by xxxx
xxxx 905-xxx-xxx Ext: xxx the Manager of Road Operations Water &
Wastewater at West Lincoln Months ago?
I
will be happy to share Mr. xxxx voice message that he left on our
answering machine states:
“We
know there’s a problem with the VanBuuren Drain” ,and he has
“fired off the report to the drainage superintendent to review”.
Why
isn’t something being done about the flooding if you already know?
As
you know we have been trying for some time now without success to
resolve the flooding caused by the Regional Road 73 (Mud St.) culvert
obstructing the VanBuuren Municipal Drain.
The
constantly flooding of many acres of land in our area has been caused
in part by the new VanBuuren Municipal Drain “A” extension that
becomes overwhelmed by water regularly.
Our
little community of flooded yards, basements, buildings, driveways
every year is damaging our relationships with our neighbours. The
floods here have everyone wondering were the water should go and why
it didn't just go down the roadside ditches rather than threw our
yards.
Why
is this township putting all this water in our yards and denying
there is a serious flooding problem? The township could have simply
opened the road side ditches that the former owner of the land filled
in -at the corner of South Grimsby Rd 12, and some of this water
would have gone down alongside the road -like the rest of the
province of Ontario’s water does. Rather than threw our land
causing destruction, chaos and a community at odds. We enquire as to
why there is a water path allowed to be illegally blocked as a water
course alongside South Grimsby Rd 12 that diverts the water to our
ditch. How is it that the previous owner of the land was allowed to
fill in the roadside ditch?
The
flooding of our lands has caused legal issues. The Township is using
our land, our ditch, our pond, as an over flow for the waterways.
Because
our neighbour did not agree to have hundreds of feet of cement
culverts run threw the middle of their yard the township had the
police stay out here for a week to have the VanBuuren Municipal Drain
“A” extension put threw. Everyone one effected by this extension
agrees this water should have gone down the roadside ditch rather
than threw yards.
The
new VanBuuren Municipal Drain “A” extension empty s into our
ditch (that was dug by a farmer back in the day). Why would you hook
up a municipal drain to our ditch without maintenance, our
permission, or consultation? As you know Ditches go into a municipal
drain, not the other way around.
So
far in this flooding conflict buildings were burned, threats were
made. This water war that was purposely created in part by xxxx xxxx
former Drainage Superintendent still rages on today.
In
turn neighbours continue to bring in hundreds and hundreds of loads
of fill that continue to arrive, diverting water here and there upon
their neighbours land. This process has gone on for 14 years that we
know of, and has melted down to whoever has the lowest land gets
flooded.
The
township continues to allow new development in this area, building
large country homes on lots that disperse many acres of water. These
new developments have then brought in hundreds and hundreds of loads
of unsupervised landfill, again increasing the disbursement of water
going into our unmentioned, unmaintained, inadequate, natural
waterway and backing up into our ditch that is joined to the
VanBuuren Municipal Drain.
The
township has land filled the downstream property with the excavation
fill from the VanBuuren Drain Extension ‘A”. This was a very
shady act committed against the adjacent land owners.
I
feel it may have been done for some payback to the above mentioned
land owner. Now when the water backs up -because the Mud St. Culvert
is too small, the river of water goes around the landfill that the
township has put there and comes our way at an alarming rate. Simply
put - the township has caused our lands to flood, they need to come
back and fix the problem either by taking the fill back out that they
put in, or making sure the waterways are working.
As
you can clearly see in the videos and pictures there are many flooded
acres of land. It maybe hard to understand just how bad the flooding
gets until you come and see the land when it’s not flooded. On the
Grimsby Floods West Lincoln site below you will also find pictures of
the culverts banks of the Mud St. road that have been caved in and
the road is splitting where the VanBuuren Drain crosses.
xxxx
xxxx Public Works Supervisor Road Operations says that he is
responsible for the culvert at Regional Road 73 (Mud St.). He said in
an email referring to the culvert in question: “I replaced it last
fall”. As you can clearly see in the pictures posted on the site
below there are no signs of repair or replacement at the location. He
now has not responded to anymore emails since I called him on his
deception. There are videos of the culvert running at max flow rate
that were sent to xxxx xxxx Drainage Superintendent years ago. And
even more recent videos and pictures can be found at the Grimsby
Floods West Lincoln website included herein for your viewing:
We
require you to respond to this facsimile and let us know what is
going to happen when we maintain and widen our ditch that the
township has joined a municipal drain up to without our permission?
Neighbours
that have been taking the brunt of the flooding (basement with more
that 4 feet of water) are quite concerned that the municipal drain
extension will actually bring the VanBuuren Drain to them threw our
ditch, and even over Regional Road 73. They have been filling in the
ditch with what ever debris they have, and he says that he is going
to bring in 300 loads of fill. This will undoubtedly bring the water
out onto South Grimsby Rd xx again, and effect more properties on
both side of the road, again, proving again, just how bad an idea it
was to put a municipal drain into an unmaintained ditch in a field
rather than go down the road side like everywhere else.
We
have been slow to react to this fiasco and have allowed our pond to
be used as a runoff, backing up into our buildings, killing wildlife,
destroying, and flooding out most of our land regularly. I’m sure
you would get pissed off if it was your property that was underwater.
Until
the township can resolve the flooding I kindly request the township
help relieve some of the flooding by diverting the new VanBuuren
Municiple Drain Extention “A” water back to the roadside ditches
and out of our lands, buildings, driveways, and homes.
I
kindly ask that you take this enquiry seriously and give it the
attention it deserves. No-one is trying to “fabricate” anything.
We just want the flooding to stop. The flooding can be resolved with
simple maintenance and a bigger culvert. We welcome your help in
resolving this issue as soon as possible.
Looking
forward to hearing from you in this regard. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mr.
xxxx xxxx
xxxxx
xxxx
xxxxx
xxxx
Administrator,
Grimsby
Floods West Lincoln
http://grimsbyfloodswestlincoln.blogspot.ca
Cc:
undisclosed
NO NAMES ARE POSTED ON THIS PAGE AT THIS TIME
