A flood mitigation plan for the Leafs Recycling Depot in Nelson has now been developed. The depot is looking to expand its services to include a household hazardous waste program, but city council raised concerns about its proximity to a creek. Nicole Ward with 9dot Engineering Inc. explains some of what the flood mitigation plan entails.
“To monitor the flood levels and if necessary put a suspension on the program so that we’re not accepting materials when potentially it could be a flood risk. To have more regular collection of those materials to potentially have to empty the containers if need be, but the biggest one comes from the SNC Lavalin report which is to raise the containers up.”
The containers would have to be raised eight inches and Ward says moving forward they’ll be looking at the actual design of how to do that. A flood assurance statement must be received prior to containers being installed on the property.
Nelson Leafs Vice President Jeff Wright offers his thoughts on the process: “I know it’s a very complicated issue, hazardous waste, whether it’s household hazardous waste or not, is a very touchy subject for a lot of people. And we know that that’s there. That’s why we’ve put a lot of time and effort in getting this approval done, complying with every single request that comes before us.”
He adds the hope is to have the program ready by the summer.
Council granted a one year bylaw exemption for the program to be carried out on the front of the property with Councillor Jesse Woodward voting against the motion. A report did indicate that the average velocity and water depths are categorized as ‘low’ flood hazard risk for the proposed site. It is also temporary until a better location can be found.