Alarmist headlines and social media rants are a dangerous combination for our increasingly fragile democratic system. This was clearly illustrated last week in the reporting of and subsequent social media discussion regarding the City staff update to Council about the status of the West Quesnel Land Stability (WQLS) project. As a result of the reporting and online discussion, the takeaway message for some community members was that Council was “abandoning” West Quesnel.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and there is nothing in the staff report that even remotely suggests Council is “abandoning” the ratepayers who own property in the West Quesnel land stability area or the people who live in that area. You can make that determination yourself, however, as the report is a publicly available document and can be read in its entirety here: https://bit.ly/3rDYtm7.
For background: there is a very large slow-moving slide zone in West Quesnel that impacts 950 parcels of land, 750 homes, one elementary school, and a number of businesses. Critical infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, natural gas, etc.) is also constantly compromised as a result of the ground movement. Due to this being an active slide zone, building requires geotechnical assessment, which has been difficult or impossible to obtain, and property assessments have been negatively impacted as a result.
Despite the land instability, however, the impacted zone remains an attractive residential area and is home to more than 20% of the City’s population.
In an effort to stabilize this ancient landslide, the City embarked on an extensive dewatering program involving the installation of horizontal drains and pumping wells to try and remove the groundwater and slow the slide’s movement. Phase 1 of this project commenced in 2012 and a second phase was undertaken beginning in 2016. Over $17 million has been spent on this approach to land stabilization, with almost $8 million of that coming directly from City ratepayers.
In 2016, prior to the commencement of Phase 2 of the dewatering program, residents of West Quesnel were informed at a town hall meeting that at least 3-5 years of data collection would be needed before we could determine whether or not this very large investment would have the hoped for effect of stabilizing land movement so that building restrictions might be eased.
Five years after that commitment was made, Council was informed that the dewatering program did not have the hoped for effect as the land is still moving. Staff involved in the project have also recommended that no more horizontal drains or pumping wells be installed.
However, rather than “abandoning” West Quesnel, the City will maintain the existing drains and pumps, as the experts believe they may have moderated land slippage during some very wet years. The City will also continue to monitor the slide. The costs for both these measures are included in the 2022 budget ($215,000).
Major investments in roads and storm drains will also continue to be made in the slide zone. Avison Street will see a $640,000 investment this year, and Patchett Street a $950,000 investment in 2023.
The City’s new Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw has also made modifications to the building restrictions in the slide area to enable reinvestment in existing buildings and some limited new improvements on properties that take into consideration the continued land movement. https://bit.ly/3tNYZ3F.
Contrary to the headlines and social media rants, Council remains just as committed to West Quesnel as we are to all our City’s neighbourhoods. Property owners and residents within the slide area will be receiving a newsletter with more details in the mail soon, and staff are currently planning a public meeting for early spring. Be the first to know by subscribing to our email newsletter at quesnel.ca/subscribe.
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