Mill Woods residents frustrated by flood mitigation work

The city's multimillion-dollar flood-mitigation plan for Mill Woods is overkill, an Edmonton resident says.

Last summer, drainage pipes under the street in front of Willy Jabs's house at 43rd Avenue and 89th Street were replaced with much larger ones.

Those newpipes were part of a $57-millioncityinitiative that began in 2015 and extends until 2020, which also includes creating a dry pond and a new living wall, according to Byron Nicholson, director ofcityutility delivery.

While Jabs sawthat work as necessary, he doesn't agree with the work underway this summer.

The city ispreparing to remove thebermseparating the rear of Jabs' property from 91st Street in order to expand thedry pond that runsparallel to the street.

"We've lived here for 30 years and that pond has never seen a drop of water," said Jabs on Tuesday. "It's engineering overkill."

The city has already removed the trees along the berm.

"We've nurtured all these trees that are being taken down," he said. "We've noticed already the sound from 91st Street is causing sleepless nights."

Nicholson defends the project.

"They [dry ponds] are there for the long haul," he said.

"We understand if people haven't been flooded, they see these projects and they scratch their heads, but there's lots of folks that have been [flooded]that have been begging for the city to do something for quite a few years," Nicholson said.

The bermwill be replaced with what Nicholsondescribesas a living wall.

The three-metrewall will be composed of a wood frame, earth and willow shrubs and will run along 91stStreet between Mill Woods Road andWhitemudDrive.

An exampleof the living wall can be foundon a section of 91stStreet near Mill Woods Road, Nicholson said.

Area resident Greg Day, whose property backs on the current demonstration living wall, says while the wall effectively blockssound, it looks awful.

"It looks like a rat's nest," Day said. "I think they could havedone a lot better job watering. Itneeds continual water."

Nicholson admits much of the living wall is no longer alive after thewatering system was accidentally turned off.

"We won't be doing it the same way with the new wall we're building," he said. "We'll have our own watering source that gets plumbed in there."

Coun.Mike Nickel has heard the complaints of residents.

"They're frustrated with the green wall and maybe they just want a wall," Nickel said.

He plans to meet with drainage officials later this summer and raise the possibilityof replacing the living wall with a concrete one.

"It's a dried-up twig wall right now," Nickel said. "So let's dig into why the failure was there and then ask the legitimate question: Should we keep the living wall going?"