By Michael Wallace
Local residents strongly oppose a city plan to prevent basement flooding along Preston Street by turning Plouffe Park into a “cement bathtub.”
The current plan for Preston Street calls for Plouffe Park to be re-designed to hold runoff water in the event of a major storm. The park’s surface would be lowered by about four feet so it could act as a storage basin for storm water.
The city is trying “to further ghettoize our children by putting them in a five-foot pit to play soccer,” says Carol Sissons, a member of the Plante Pool Recreation Association.
Ravi Mehta, the project manager for Preston Street’s rehabilitation, says redesigning Plouffe Park is essential.
The current catch basins that hold rainwater during a major storm aren’t big enough. As a result, water backs up in the sewers and spills out into people’s basements.
Some basements in the Preston Street area flood every one or two years. A 2004 study recommended limiting the flow of water into the combined sewer.
“The area between Somerset and Preston, roughly moving south is a sag,” says Mehta. “And there’s no natural way for it to flow out of the area. It’s almost like a bowl if you can imagine. And so it needs to go somewhere.”
The park was rebuilt two years ago when the Plante Recreation Centre was renovated. Sissons says the local community cannot afford to lose the use of the park for another year.
“It was a decision of the community that it was very important to have soccer,” says Sissons, “and for kids to have a place to run and play outside.”
Residents complain that the city’s plan would reduce the size of the current soccer fields.
“I’m concerned that the city will be shrinking the Plouffe pitches to a size where it’s unusable for any junior soccer or any recreational opportunities at all,” says local resident Richard Thomas.
The Preston Street Business Improvement Association also opposes using Plouffe Park as a water storage basin.
Lori Mellor, the executive director, says a better way to get storm water off the street is by building a separate sewer pipe. Storm water would travel in one pipe straight to the Ottawa River while sewage would be transported in a separate pipe to be processed.
“You have to look at sewers as a long-term investment,” Mellor says. “It’s short-term pain for long-term gain.”
But Mehta, the project manager, says the cost of separating the sewer makes the BIA’s solution unrealistic.
“What we would have to do to store all of this water underground, basically, is have a three- meter-diameter pipe the full length of the street,” says Mehta. “And just the feasibility of trying to fit that in with all the other underground infrastructure in the area is too much for the city.”
Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes is also not in favour of the plan for Plouffe Park.
“I’m not happy about losing any green space and I’m not happy about losing any trees,” Holmes says.
“I don’t like the idea of using it as a storm water management control.”
There are three open houses where city engineers and planners will be available to answer questions on the plan before construction starts next June.
And Mehta says there’s also room for improvement.
“If we have to change the plan for the park because of lack of community support, then that’s something we’ll have to do.”