May 2020, Council passed the following motion:
Councillor Bondy – List of Round Table Items “Shoreline Protection
of Public Property” Seconded by Deputy Mayor Meloche
That Council bring forward the item listed as “shoreline protection of public
property” from the Mayor’s list of round table items, in order to discuss and
give direction to Administration as it relates to potential liability, budget
considerations, shoreline protection of public property policy, timelines, and
fallen trees policy during this time of historic high water levels.
I wanted to provide an update for residents who have been following and are interested in this file.
In January, the Town submitted an application to the federal government’s National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP). This intake (intake 6) only permitted non-structural project applications for tasks such as risk assessments, studies, mapping, etc. The Town submitted an application for a project we called, “The Town of Essex Shoreline Flooding and Erosion Identification & Mitigation Study”. This project will identify all shoreline properties owned by the Town of Essex and also provide potential measures to mitigate the impacts of flooding, erosion, and high water levels along the Lake Erie Shoreline. While the program is federally funded, if successful, the grant would cover up to $60,000 of the estimated total project cost of $120,000. The project would be completed in 3 phases:
1. A shoreline inventory to research and create a database of all Town-owned properties along the Lake Erie Shoreline;
2. A detailed field investigation and risk assessment of each property to identify potential flooding and erosion risks;
3. Formulation of a mitigation and protection plan for each property. This phase will also include a priority listing of properties and an estimate of costs for protecting each.
Overall, the project would give the current and future Councils a solid understanding of Town owned-properties along the Lake Erie shoreline, the measures needed to protect them, as well as the associated costs. We should know if we are successful by the end of March so fingers crossed and stay tuned!
The pictures below are public properties in our town experiencing significant erosion and negatively impacting neighbours.
