Help shape the future of Country Hills Park

Thank you for your continued interest in this project. We are nearing the end of the field assessment and monitoring phase. Early in the next engagement phase, we will launch a survey through Engage. We'd like to learn more about Country Hills Park use and your ideas for balancing stormwater measures with park improvements. Stay tuned for updates in 2023.

Thank you for your questions and feedback. We are continuing to do an initial assessment of soil conditions and the water table. Subscribe to this page for information about the next phases of this project.

Preliminary concept from the 2016 Stormwater Master Plan

We added a preliminary concept to the document library. This shows early ideas for the stormwater pond or underground stormwater storage facility in Country Hills Park. This concept is from the Stormwater Master Plan, approved by Council in 2016.

Do you need an accessible version of this document? Please get in touch with Chris Nechacov Chris.Nechacov@kitchener.ca, 519-741-2200 x 7148

Geotechnical Investigation:

You may see heavy equipment such as an earth auger within the park in the next week or two. This is to see the conditions of the soil which is necessary to begin the design. If you have any questions, please post them to the Questions tab or reach out to the project team.

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 in neighbourhoods reduces flooding during storms.

Runoff from the neighbourhood flows through a sewer under Country Hills Park to Balzer Creek and the Grand River. This makes Country Hills Park a good place to add a new stormwater facility to collect runoff. By adding stormwater storage to the neighbourhood, we would:

• Improve water quality in Balzer Creek and the Grand River
• Reduce the risk of flooding
• Reduce erosion in Balzer Creek
• Improve resilience against climate change
• Enhance community safety

Stormwater master plan

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 percent of runoff in the city is managed through stormwater facilities. This means that 75 percent of runoff from heavy rainfall and snow melt flows into storm sewers, contaminating local creeks.

The master plan identified initial concepts for the installation of projects across Kitchener. As we look at each project more closely, we will examine the technical feasibility of adjusting the designs to meet community needs.

The Government of Canada awarded us nearly $50 million through the Disaster Mitigation Adaptation Fund. Access to this funding means we can install needed stormwater measures at a reduced cost to the community. And we can do this much sooner than would have been possible without the funding. We need to comply with funding requirements, which places an extra constraint on these projects.

We consulted city-wide on the stormwater master plan. That consultation met the needs of the master plan. But as we look closer at specific projects, we need to consult further with the community.

Consultation for the Class Environmental Assessment

This project was approved by the Ministry of the Environment 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.