New flood-mitigation plan pleases Sydney trail group

Cape Breton Regional Municipality has revised its flood mitigation plan for the Sydney Wash Brook watershed in an effort to lessen the impact on an urban forest.

Supporters of the Baille Ard Trail worried the plan would devastate the well-used trail system and surrounding forest.

The municipality commissioned the flood-protection plan from CBCL in the months following the Thanksgiving Day flood of 2016. At that time, the only variable under consideration was optimal flood reduction, said Matt Viva, manager of wastewater operations.

"The concept on the table today ... does show slightly less flood-reduction potential," he said Tuesday. "However, it's considering all the variables. It's considering the importance of the trail system."

The original conceptual design included the construction of six large berms to hold back water in big rain events, reducing flooding to residential neighbourhoods downstream. The plan showed the berms snaking across the forest and crossing the trail in 11 places.

The new modified version shows three roughly L-shaped berms, covering a shorter total distance, and mostly avoiding the trail footprint.

"We will have one instance where the trail system does cross over the berms, however the impact is much less than it was with the original concept," said Viva, who presented the plan to CBRM council.

CBCL used a proposal submitted by the Baille Ard Trail Recreation Association as a template for the modified design.

"We can't help but being pleased," said David Gabriel, president of the trail association. "Pleased that they were willing to bend and come up with something that we would find more acceptable."

The group is also happy the municipality and CBCL have offered to involve the trail group in the process going forward.

"We still are concerned about the integrity of the forest, to make sure that everything is done with as light a hand as possible," said Gabriel.

The modified plan comes with an added benefit to the municipality, in that it can be fully constructed under Public Safety Canada's disaster financial assistance funding, whereas the original concept would have required a financial contribution from CBRM.

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