Mapleton applies for flood mitigation funding

MAPLETON – The next phase in a Drayton flood mitigation project will hopefully be fueled by a $250,000 grant from the Co-operators Resilience Acceleration Lab (CRAL). 

Climate change coordinator Martin Tamlyn provided an update on the project and asked council to support the funding application on Jan. 27. Council is in support. Tamlyn said grant criteria and township’s goals align “very well.”

If approved, CRAL will provide professional support as well as financial, he said. 

CRAL is supporting municipal infrastructure projects that mitigate physical climate risk to bolster climate adaptation, community resilience and economic growth. 

Next steps for the Drayton project include exploring options for a dike extension and other mitigation measures, which will be funded with $20,000 from Climate Ready Infrastructure Services. 

The study will evaluate alternate solutions for dike alignments, surface drainage, green infrastructure and climate resilience, including technical and economic evaluations and public information sessions. 

Township staff are working on securing a vendor, Tamlyn said – “hopefully ... Montrose [Environmental],” which did an early study on flood mitigation in Mapleton and is familiar with the community.

Councillor Marlene Ottens said the project is “really important: nobody wants to see homes and businesses there flood again.” But she’s concerned that building a large berm will impede access to the area. 

“There’s a lot of community-based facilities there and blocking it off with a giant berm is a huge problem,” she said. 

Tamlyn said there are many factors and paths to consider, and completing the study will “allow all those options to be put on the table for the community and council to discuss.” 

On Dec. 9, council affirmed the need for an investment to abate flooding risks in Drayton with a preliminary high-level cost estimate of $4.3 million.

The first phase in the Drayton flood mitigation project is now complete: a flood risk and project need assessment which provided updated hazard mapping, annual damage estimates, data on vulnerable infrastructure and a cost-benefit analysis. The cost was covered by the Grand River Conservation Authority and the Disaster Recovery Assistance Program. 

Once the study funded by Climate Ready Services is complete, design and environmental analyses will be conducted.

This would include environmental studies, impact assessments, mitigation measures, technical and cost evaluations, financing models and public and agency consultation to select the final design. 

The full scope of the work depends on whether the $250,000 CRAL grant is secured. 

The grant would also cover an environmental study report and consultation, summarizing all previous phases, consultation outcomes, detailed design, impacts and mitigation, and initiating a formal public review. 

Following that, a tender would be released and construction would begin. 

The township is exploring  construction funding opportunities, including public-private partnerships, senior government grants, user fees (stormwater levy), local improvement charges and development charges.