Saving homes could cost city $25M
After more than a decade of anxiety, some southeast residents are breathing a sigh of relief as an expensive project to stabilize a slope that was crumbling just metres from dozens of homes nears completion.
The southeast neighbourhoods of McKenzie Lake and Douglasdale wake up each morning to the sounds of heavy machinery driving piles deep into the bedrock below more than 24 homes on an escarpment bordering Fish Creek Park.
The massive project — which was originally estimated at $19 million but could wind up costing the city upwards of $25 million — will permanently stabilize the slope by next summer after years of temporary fixes that saw the embankment continue to slide away.
“This goes back 12 years,” said McKenzie Lake community association president D’Arcy Duquette.
“The homeowners have been watching it for that period of time — they’ve watched it very slowly progress toward their houses.
“If you allowed that to go on for the next 10 years, eventually (those houses) would be at the edge of the cliff. That’s basically what they’re trying to stop.”
The project will also shore up a key 3.5-kilometre section of the popular Bow River pathway that has suffered from cracking and erosion — especially following heavy rainfall — since 2005.
Duquette, who regularly cycles the pathway, says he’s watched construction crews repeatedly relocate the path away from the edge and closer to the houses.
“One time they went in there and excavated it and then they repaved it,” Duquette said.
“I went down there probably a week later, it had rained three or four times, and there was a big huge crack right down the middle of the diversion. And I’m thinking, holy jeepers, we’re just wasting money here.
“Every time they did something, it was basically temporary.”
Finally, in late 2015, a report went to council’s transportation committee warning that “continuing to repair isolated damaged sections is not sustainable,” and that failing to resolve the issue could result in higher future costs and potentially greater technical challenges.
During a closed-door meeting, council voted in 2015 to approve a plan to stabilize a portion of the slope, but construction work on the long-term solution wasn’t begun until this year.
The city has not made public the total cost of the project, but residents and at least one elected official have suggested the price tag will exceed the preliminary $19-million estimate and run upwards of $25 million.
Coun. Peter Demong, whose ward has included the area since boundaries were redrawn in 2017, said part of the reason the costs are being kept under wraps is because there could still be contracts tendered as part of the project.
“I am always concerned about the cost of everything we do at the city,” Demong said.
“But I’m also more concerned with making sure that we do this right so that it’s not just a quick Band-Aid solution.”
For now, residents will have to tolerate the noise and disruption of trucks and crews for months to come. More than 230 piles have to be driven into the ground to secure the slope; each of the piles has anchor tie-backs that go into the ground diagonally to further secure the hillside, city engineers say.
A retaining wall will also help secure a reconstructed and landscaped Bow River Pathway when the project is complete.
Duquette, who has lived in the area for 18 years, said he’s looking forward to an end to the barricades and detours, and the reopening of a stretch of pathway that can see upwards of 10,000 pedestrians and cyclists per week.
“It’s a beautiful pathway, you can see a huge amount of scenery from that location, right up to the mountains on a clear day,” Duquette said.
“I think the city is living up to their commitment. It took a little bit of time, but the fact is they are living up to it.”