Special Announcement re: Colliery Dam Technical Committee

Good news! 

The technical team, consisting of City Staff, Snuneymuxw, and Colliery Dam Park Preservation Society members have agreed on hiring Katherine Gordon as facilitator, and Golder as the engineering team, to assist in the process for re-mediation of the dams. 

They plan to come together in the first week of December to discuss how to go forward. 

There are many challenges ahead but this is a positive and crucial first step. We will have more information available on Tuesday at the community meeting (Barsby School Nov. 26, 6:00 pm about this and other topics.

Colliery Dam Park Preservation Society

Mark November 26th - 6pm - on your calendar...

You are invited to a Community meeting

John Barsby School, multi purpose room
Tuesday November 26th - 6pm. 

 We will be giving an update regarding the Colliery dams in partnership with representatives from the City. 
There will also be a report from the 
Colliery Dam Park Preservation Society 
and you will be able to sign up for membership in the society. 

 This will be your opportunity to get answers to your questions, let the City know what you think and what is important to you. The new flood signs that have been put up will be discussed as they are a contentious issue. Unfortunately we were not consulted about this and we have considerable concerns about them. We have asked that they be removed once the dams are upgraded. 

There will be information regarding the technical committee and also about the potential of adding land to the park. We hope that we can help to clear up some of the confusion surrounding the dams issue. 

It is also a time to
celebrate what we have accomplished
in this past year together.

We did what many thought was not possible. Your presence and participation has been and continues to be important to our cause. 

 Hope to see many of you on Tuesday. 

Fundraising Calendars and T shirts will be available

Update from Jeff Solomon — Long Term Strategy Report For the Colliery Dams to go to Council Monday at 4:00

Council will be presented with the staff report for the process of the long-term strategy for the middle and lower Chase River Dams on Monday, Oct. 21 at 4:00. Please note 4:00pm not 4:30.

These are some of the highlights from the report: 

• The Colliery Dam Park Preservation Society will be involved with the technical committee which will focus on outcomes that only involve remediating the existing dams. 

• Dam Safety Branch has advised that if remediation of the dams cannot be completed in 2014, short term physical alteration need to be considered in 2014. These physical alterations, if deemed necessary, will be developed by the technical committee in the context of the long-term strategy. 

• Staff are recommending remediating the existing dams, as this option does not involve removal. 

Snuneymuxw has requested that Council and the community exhaust all efforts to keep the existing dams providing there is a desire to continue with dams on the Chase River. Snuneymuxw has identified that the primary goal for them in this process is to protect the fishery. 

 The CDPPS has consistently identified their goal is to retain the park, dams and river in their current form as much as is possible.

A facilitator may be included to assist in the process.

Information from the technical committee will go to the executive committee which involves City Of Nanaimo senior staff, Snuneymuxw First Nations and the Dam Safety Branch. Policy Group is next which has mayor and council, SFN and Province (DSB) involved. Council then has final say.

More info at www.nanaimo.ca/goto/dams

My thoughts: There is a lot of good in this proposal. It sets an entirely new agenda with every intention to rehab the dams. However, there are also a lot of ifs and unknowns. Time will tell, but we now have what appears to be a true desire to improve the existing structures. There is no talk of removal or renaturalization. I have concerns with the time frame attached as they are suggesting the process may not be finished until 2015.

Also everyone will have to get ready for the arrival of 80 signs downstream. These signs may not be supportive of the message that we are attempting to convey. We didn’t have any input here.

I will be at Moose Lodge on Sat and at the Park on Sunday to fill people in further, and I will also be speaking at the COW mtg. on Mon.

I also have calendars. They turned out really well. $ 16 for ones with a slight imperfection $20 others.

Press Release — A New Progressive Path Towards a Constructive Plan for Preserving the Heritage Value and Social Benefits of Colliery Dam Park

The Colliery Dam Park Preservation Society would like to thank the City staff and Council for developing a plan which will provide immediate risk mitigation and give the City and other concerned stakeholders time to discuss and develop long term mitigation solutions. We are optimistic that we are on a progressive path towards a constructive plan for preserving the heritage value and social benefits of having these dams in the park for the future.

The short term risk mitigation developed for the dams is a very thorough plan and one that may produce the added bonus of being a template for an emergency plan for the whole city. As any event that would be of a scale that would cause the dams to fail would also be one that would cause wide spread devastation in the city, creating a city wide emergency preparedness plan would be a sensible move. We are grateful that the people in Harewood will have the benefit of this plan but we think all of Nanaimo residents should also have the same consideration.

As we move forward the Colliery Dam Park Preservation Society is hopeful that common sense and cost effective methods will be pursued, while keeping residents safe from actual and real risks as a priority. As there is new information regarding the status of the dams, which should decrease the consequence rating, common sense would indicate repairing the dams could be a fairly straight forward and cost acceptable option.

The Colliery Dam Park Preservation Society has attempted throughout this process to support the efficient use of tax dollars. We are hopeful that this will be a goal that we all work towards as we develop a plan for the future of the middle and lower Colliery dams. Our community has worked tirelessly and without cost to the city to provide research information that would assist City staff and we look forward to combining our resources with those of the City to find solutions. The Colliery Dam Park Preservation Society supports the safe upgrading of the middle and lower Colliery dams in a manner that uses practical methods and is not only mindful of tax dollars spent but also considers other important factors such as the values and needs of other major stakeholders.

---