"We are left with flooding"
Hastings residents say rezoning won't keep their homes dry
Some Hastings residents who have faced flooded backyards and basements from water flowing from an adjacent property are frustrated that the municipality is just rezoning the land, not actually doing anything to prevent flooding.
The residents of homes at the corner of Bridge Street North and Division Street on the northern edge of Hastings were puzzled recently when Trent Hills said it wants to rezone a flood-prone vacant lot from Residential (R1) to Development (D) to ensure that it doesn’t get developed.
The change sounds like it would ease development, but the town’s planners said that’s not the case. The Development designation would flag it to future planners and would-be developers as a location requiring further study, while leaving it zoned Residential would allow an owner to seek a building permit.
“Council is well aware of the flooding this lot is subject to, making it impossible to build,” said resident Debra McMullan in an email to the town. “It was under at least four feet of water this time last year.”
“There is a rumour that the rezoning is being done by the municipality for a much needed storm drainage sewer to address the flooding in the area as a whole,” McMullan said. “Or is this rezoning in preparation to address the drainage patterns, change the drainage patterns or simply acknowledge them and not allow any building to take place on this lot?”
At a public meeting on Tuesday, April 2, to get feedback on the plans, Cristal Laanstra, Manager of Planning, said the municipality is just using the tools it has to try to ensure no development occurs. She said it has no power to force a property owner to deal with the water.
Laanstra said that nowadays when subdivisions are approved planners take stormwater flow and drainage into account, but years ago when this Hastings neighbourhood was approved that wasn’t the case and the historic drainage pattern due to the topography was not considered.
I visited the area during the rain on Wednesday morning and it’s easy to see that the property is the lowest spot in an area that drains from hills to the west, north and east.
“Are we actively trying to find a solution to the flooding problem?” asked resident Kayla Pimentel in an email to the town. “Or are we just rezoning it so owner of the lot can never build a residential home on it?
“As all council knows a year to the date of this meeting my home flooded due to the excessive water that collects on the surrounding properties. Still in question where all this water comes from. This situation caused great distress in my family’s lives that I am still, till this day dealing with. My home is the only house that continues to flood, with no options for water redirection.”
In an email to the town, Lori Zapletal, who lives on Division Street west of the property, said one property on Bridge Street has a large hole in the backyard that “is being used as some sort of catchment for the millions of gallons of water that ends up in there some years.” She noted that the owner has said he would like to fill it in, but that would simply force the water onto her property.
Homeowner David Batista attended the public meeting on Tuesday night and he said the back half of his property is often flooded, so he asked whether he would be permitted to build a berm to redirect the water from the flood zone.
“Eventually, will this problem ever be mitigated, or do we have to take it upon ourselves to do what we can to keep our basements dry?” he asked.
Laanstra said homeowners are usually responsible for surface drainage on their property. She said historic drainage that flows onto a property cannot be redirected onto someone else's property. “You’d have to make sure that you aren’t putting any additional water onto someone else's property,” she added.
Councillor Gene Brahaney said he had visited the property and agreed all the water from the north and east would funnel onto the Division St. property. He suggested it would be an engineering nightmare to handle and wondered whether an underground stormwater system had been considered.
“Is it easier for you guys to just rezone the property to D, than to mitigate the flooding?” Batista asked. “It almost seems like you are making the property unbuildable, but we are left out in the cold with the flooding.”
Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf, who was chairing the meeting, said those are two separate issues.
“We’re using the tools that we have that are available to us,” Laanstra said. “Surface drainage is not something that the municipality has within our purview.”
Laanstra said the Development designation would prohibit any approval without review of environmental features and submission of potential required studies.
The planning department will consider the public comments and bring a report to council in coming weeks. If you want to comment email planning@trenthills.ca.
