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Flood mapping doesn’t cover whole fire hall land

December 20, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Fitting the Orangeville Fire Station building area into work to update floodplain mapping would require an additional future project phase.

Matthew Smith suggested during council’s Dec. 16 meeting that the Mill Creek stabilization and flood mitigation project with the Credit Valley Conservation Authority (CVC) should include the fire station’s flood plain on Dawson Road.

“This might satisfy the CVC which would allow for the expansion of the current (fire hall) building,” Smith said.

The construction of a new Orangeville Fire Station has been considered since early 2021. Council in 2022 approved the design for a 28,649 square-foot fire headquarters. The floor plan was slightly increased in 2023.

Another facet of the project would be remediation plans to address a major drainage issue located on a property adjacent to the proposed fire hall site.

The town has received much feedback over the years about flooding along Mill Creek south of Broadway and Monora Creek with its many branches south of Broadway.

Those creeks have overtopped their banks and caused significant flooding on roads and private property. Thoroughfares consumed by flooding have been Sherbourne Street, Dawson Road, First Street and Hansen Boulevard.

Flooding has caused damage to municipal infrastructure, structures and private property.

Tim Kocialek, the town’s infrastructure services general manager, said in a Nov. 4 report to council that updating flood plain mapping to better understand the current situation and potential future impacts on infrastructure and private properties is a reasonable and effective tool to develop and update.

Kocialek said during the Dec. 16 meeting that municipal staff is working with the CVC to finalize approvals.

“Fundamentally, it’s Dawson through Centre Street,” he said. “It includes a little work by the fire hall but not major work in that area. To expand the scope, it would probably be a second phase that would be done in future years to accommodate it.”

The work that’s being done will lower any flooding in the fire hall area by about 10 centimetres.

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