Why are we adding stormwater measures to the park?
Climate change will bring more intense storms and more frequent freeze-thaw cycles. Creating more spaces for stormwater to collect will reduce flooding during future storms.
Runoff from the Cherry Park neighbourhood flows untreated through a creek channel in Cherry Park to Westmount Creek. This creek then leads to Victoria Park Lake and ultimately, the Grand River. Adding a stormwater feature to the park will filter and slow water down to prevent erosion and reduce flooding downstream.
By adding stormwater storage to the neighbourhood, we would:
- Intercept runoff before it rushes into Westmount Creek and Victoria Park Lake
- Filter the stormwaters before they re-enter the creek
- Slowly release these filtered waters into the creek to prevent erosion
- Reduce the risk of flooding in nearby streets and downstream neighbourhoods
Project background
In 2016, the City of Kitchener Council approved a stormwater master plan. This plan created a strategy to manage stormwater for the next 15 years. Through this plan, we learned that only 25% of runoff in the city is managed through stormwater facilities. This means that 75% of runoff from heavy rainfall and snow melt flows into storm sewers, contaminating local creeks.
The master plan identified initial concepts for projects to be installed throughout Kitchener. As we look at each project more closely, we will examine the technical feasibility of adjusting the designs to meet community needs.
To help us build these projects, we were awarded nearly $50 million from the Government of Canada through the Disaster Mitigation Adaptation Fund. Access to this funding means we can install needed stormwater measures at a reduced cost to the community much sooner than would have been possible without the funding. However, there are funding requirements we need to comply with, which have placed an additional constraint on these projects.
We consulted city-wide on the stormwater master plan. That consultation met the master plan’s needs, but as we look closer at specific projects, more consultation is required.
Consultation for the Class Environmental Assessment
The Ministry of the Environment approved this project in 2016 as part of the Integrated Stormwater Management Master Plan (ISWM-MP). If community consultations lead to required project modifications, we will seek to amend the relevant planning tools—in this case, the Class Environmental Assessment, under which the ISWM-MP was completed.
