Pelham Town council figuratively found themselves between a ditch and a hard place at their May 3 meeting, unanimously accepting a staff report to investigate the dredging of roadside ditches in the Farr and Webber Roads area while conceding that the measure will not actually mitigate resident concerns of flooding in the area.
Following the April 19 meeting in which residents and an expert spoke on the situation, the staff report came back pegging the costs at $62,000 to re-ditch the entire stretch of the area.
“It’s not going to drastically improve drainage on private properties,” Director of Public Works Jason Marr summarized, saying the work is mainly designed to keep water from ponding on the roadways.
The price tag represents about 62 percent of the Town’s annual roadside ditching budget, meaning other needed areas could end up being neglected.
Deputy Mayor John Wink said the work has to be done regardless, saying that some of the vegetation in ditches is “taller than I am.”
Mayor Marvin Junkin said the remainder of the $100,000 budget could be re-alloted to other problematic ditches, while Ward 1 Councillor Kevin Ker suggested it may help if the report included strategic pinpointing of specific problem spots in the Farr-Webber area in order to prioritize funding.
Ongoing residential development in the area has never been part of a Town-authorized subdivision plan, and has essentially been built piecemeal as single rural properties. This development has aggravated flooding issues in the vicinity of the Welland River, with CAO David Cribbs acknowledging at the April meeting that the only long-term solution may be the construction of a municipal drain — at a much higher cost.
Plow delay
Growing pains continued with a staff update on winter operations, with Marr telling council that due to automotive supply chain issues, a new Town snowplow unit is not expected to be delivered until the winter of 2024-25. The Public Works Director also provided a potentially dire warning when asked by Ward 1 Councillor Wayne Olson if current snow removal equipment is at risk of not holding up over the next few winters.
“It’s a strong possibility,” Marr said. He added that a report is going to be needed regarding the continuing growth of Pelham versus the adequacy of the current equipment.
The good news is that about 30 percent of the $690,0000 winter operations budget for 2023 remains for the colder months later this year, which is usually considered sufficient. Marr also said the Town plans to partner with Niagara Region for future equipment procurement, as the larger government body tends to have more clout with vendors.
No age stipulation
Council voted to proceed with the establishment of an Environmental and Climate Adaptation Advisory Committee, but Olson’s motion to try and include verbiage that a “young person” between the ages of 18 and 25 be included on the five-member committee was shot down.
“I’m a little nervous about taking an unqualified person if adding that stipulation,” Ker said. “I’m not out to preclude them … but is it potentially discriminatory?”
Acting Town Clerk William Tigert suggested verbiage that clarified that full discretion would still lie with councillors when making the committee selections, but it wasn’t enough.
“I’m still coming back to the ageism potential,” Ker said. “But I understand the intent.”
In the end, only Olson and Ward 3’s Shellee Niznik supported the amendment to include an age recommendation.
Timeline plan approved
Council also accepted staff’s 2023-27 Strategic Plan Action Item Timelines report, which provides planned start times of action items and includes those that require multiple years to complete. The report includes specific projects such as transition to an electric vehicle municipal fleet and charging stations (targeted completion 2026), a facilities master plan (2025), and a refurbishment of Fire Station No. 1 (2026). The list may be viewed at pelham.ca/strategicplan
