We are upgrading the park amenities and adding stormwater measures to Millwood Park and Carlyle Park. Your input will help guide the design of these upgrades so that the parks better serve the neighbourhood.

Park updates will include:

  • Trail upgrades
  • Reinvestment in playground equipment in the Carlyle Park and Millwood Park area
  • A stormwater pond or other stormwater feature at Millwood Park
  • Other new features to respond to the community’s needs in these parks

We thank you for your contributions while we look for a workable design solution that:

  • Reduces future flood risks
  • Protects and improves water quality
  • Reinvests in play within these parks
  • Responds to community needs at both parks
  • Fits within the project budget

Construction of park improvement is expected to take place in 2025. Construction of the stormwater pond is expected to take place in 2027.


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.

There is a large stormwater pipe currently running through Millwood Park. It carries untreated runoff from storm sewers through the neighbourhood to Lower Schneider Creek. By adding stormwater storage to the neighbourhood, we would:

  • Intercept runoff before it rushes into Lower Schneider creek
  • 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


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, 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 what would have been possible without the funding. We need to comply with their 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 know we need to have more consultation with the community.


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.

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