MAKEOVER FOR GREY GIANT
Big plans for Grand Marais Drain
When Coun. Fred Francis looks out over the Grand Marais drain he said he sees possibility — not a bare concrete watercourse with a lone can of Red Bull clattering down it.
On Monday, city council voted to include in budget deliberations an improvement plan for the section of the channel that runs through the centre of the city’s south side.
Francis said it’s the first step in what could become a revitalized, naturalized area with trails, trees and bridges that connect residents.
“We can start today and hopefully down the line this is something that everyone can be proud of, something that brings neighbourhoods together,” he said after the council meeting.
Francis said the city has earmarked $30 million to replace the moat’s concrete slabs beyond 2021. Instead of using that to maintain the status quo, he said the proposals present an opportunity to use that money to turn it into something special.
Daniel Krutsch of Landmark Engineering Inc. said the drain was built in phases starting around 1969 and finishing in 1972. At the time, the purpose was to ensure basements wouldn’t flood.
It’s a job the drain has been doing faithfully for decades, but Krutsch said the gaping piece of infrastructure was overbuilt.
“It’s been demonstrated that it has a lot more capacity than what the demand is,” he explained during Monday’s council meeting, describing it as “a big, concrete hydraulic channel.”
According to Krutsch, the Essex Region Conservation Authority approached the city about possible changes to the grey giant, leading Krutsch and his firm to suggest a number of ideas to make the area more user-friendly.
Options range in price from $21 million to about $26 million, while a short-term maintenance estimate for the drain is about $400,000.
Area residents say a pedestrian bridge that crosses the channel on a stretch near Virginia Park Avenue sees heavy traffic, and most were excited by the idea of more walkways and greenery.
John Skuza said he uses the existing path that runs on the Grand Marais Road side of the trench at least twice each day for in-line skating, biking or walking his dogs.
“It’s disgusting,” he said Tuesday. “It’s a big blob of cement, it’s depressing to look at.”
Skuza pointed to dead trees and rundown sections of chain-link fence as eyesores along a waterway that for the most part has remained bone dry.
“After the heaviest rains we’ve had the last two years I’ve only seen the ditch get half full, and in half a day it’s down to nothing,” he said.
“I’m not saying gut the thing, but they can do something to make it more welcoming.”
A man whose house lies at the foot of the pedestrian bridge only gave his name as Brian. He said he has lived at that address since the ’70s and watched the “ditch” get built.
In the time he’s lived there, the drain has done its job, the 66-yearold said, and there’s no reason to change things now.
“I’m not saying it’s beautiful, but it’s functional and I’m a functional type of guy.”
As for the idea of added bridges helping link him to neighbours across the way, Brian said he’d prefer the money went to something more important.
“Don’t you think that’s a bit childish?” he said. “I went over to talk with a guy who moved over there a month and a half ago. I didn’t need a park to get there, I used the bridge.”
Marianne Panas lives across the road from Brian. She said she would love to see more paths and trees, especially for the kids who stream across the bridge to Central Public School or nearby parks. But she doesn’t expect to see changes any time soon.
“I think it’s going to look nice,” she said. “I hope it happens, but I don’t know if it’ll happen in 10 years or 20.”
Francis said while Monday’s vote was a good step for the project that may still be decades from completion, that doesn’t affect what he called his “vision” of doing better with the drain.
“If we’re able to one day link this to existing trails, that’s the dream, where you can bike from East Windsor all the way to South Windsor all on trails,” the councillor said.