Saint John dragging feet on Sand Cove fix, residents say

People who livein Saint John's Sand Cove neighbourhood say they'regetting discouraged by the city's slow pace of addressing the slope failure that is threatening their homes.

Approximately15 residents of the west-side community met with engineers and the City of Saint John Thursday night to talk about next steps.

It follows the release of a new engineering report that says the seaside neighbourhood is losing 0.46 metresper year to coastal erosion.

Willa Mavis is part of a citizens' group lobbying for construction of a seawall to save their homes.

She says residents didn't learn anything new at the meeting.

Instead, propertyowners were told the city wants to wait another two months for afurther study examiningthe use of a breakwater to slow or stop the erosion.

"We're all really frustrated. They've been studying this for eight years and I think they pretty well know what's going on here," Mavis said Friday in an interview withInformation Morning Saint John.

"And two months sort of coincides with the next municipal election. I can foresee them saying, well, we have a new mayor and new council and now everyone has to apprise themselves of all this information, so we'll see you in September."

The new study, byFundy Engineering, describes the area as a "high energy erosion site" with weak unconsolidated soils.

It says slope failure in Sand Cove is not going to stop.

But the report does not offer a fix to the problem, which also threatens city infrastructure, including water and power lines and Sand Cove Road itself.

It states the city may consider buying property to build another road giving access to the Irving Nature Park and some residences, or build a breakwateror a seawall.

No money in budget

The report stresses there is no money in the capital budget this year for any solutions, so any fixes would have to wait until at least 2017.

"The road is only going to get worse, particularly when the frostcomes out of the ground we have already been told the road could go at any minute, and we wonder, who might be on the road when it goes," said Mavis.

"Might it be one of us might it be someone going to a funeral, might it be the school bus, so we're out here, constantly afraid that every time we cross that road it might be our car ending up in a hole."

The current study was launched last January after new slope movement came to the attention of city staff.

Groundwater and slope indicator equipment was installed at that time by Fundy Engineering but ground movement was so dramatic the slope indicator casings were damaged.

Media were not permitted to attend the meeting on Thursday, andSaint John city councillors in attendanceleft without taking any questions.