Wheatland Industrial Park runoff plagues landowners

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

Wheatland County has had storm water runoff issues in the Highway 1 Wheatland Industrial Park for many years.
Harold and Elvira Boldt appeared before county council on Feb. 5 to encourage them to address the problem.
“We are here to appeal to you for some help and direction to mitigate the flooding action by the industrial park adjacent to our property,” said Harold Boldt.
The Boldts have been experiencing flooding on their property for over 12 years. They had submitted concerns at the original public hearing for the industrial park and gained assurances at that time that water runoff would be contained within the confines of the park. The Boldts also included copies of the original projections and references to studies used by council to approve the park. Some of the original approval conditions have not yet been met.
Storm water runoff concerns for that area have come before council several times in the past. The Boldts presented pictures showing the downhill slope to their property from the industrial site and various views of flooding that occurred. They presented historical information that indicated early on that the runoff had caused some small puddling, but it was predominately handled by the ditch system along Range Road 270. They said they could still farm the low-lying regions.
With development, they said increased runoff causes flooding of the land at least twice a year and often overflows the ditch on Range Road 270, and the berm that was raised in hopes to contain the runoff is not working. In the past, they were told a 35-acre retention pond on the park’s land would be needed to curtail the flooding. This has not been constructed. They said they suspect the removal of topsoil and leaving the clay base during construction of the industrial park may have eliminated the area’s ability to absorb water.
They said the excess water is affecting their land with spots of salination showing, which affects farming practices.
“The system has failed us in a number of key areas,” said Harold Boldt. “There has been no intermunicipal communication between Rocky View (County) residents regarding Wheatland County developments. It appears there is one set of rules for us that we are expected to follow, but no one holds Wheatland County or Wheatland Industrial Park accountable to manage the water on their development.”
There was some discussion whether it was Rocky View County’s problem, or Wheatland County’s, as the area is within intermunicipal boundaries. Their property is along Boundary Road but falls within Rocky View County. Rocky View County directed them to Wheatland County for a solution.
The Boldts also said the positioning of a few new culverts after road construction has caused pooling runoff onto their land. The landowners had tried to remedy the grade of the land by top dressing measures, but were asked for a $20,000 environmental study prior to approval. They estimate a personal loss of at least $75,000 in labour and crop losses to date.
They asked for the right to top dress the land, the county to fix the culverts, address runoff from the Wheatland Industrial Park, mediate with Rocky View County the costs of the environmental review and set up a meeting with all affected stakeholders.
Mike Ziehr, Wheatland County’s transportation and infrastructure manager, said the County has been dealing with the problem in that area since 2008. He said with the number of wetlands, moving the water around in the flat topography would just divert the problem to another area. The original plan called for a pipeline to divert water to Hartell Creek, which empties into Weed Lake. He said building a pipeline to Hartell coulee, which is many miles away, would be expensive. With the development of a regional storm water plan, which may be 10 years away, the county hopes to shunt water through that system via a pipeline.
“Someone else is using our land for their storm pond and it isn’t right,” said Elivera Boldt. “Somebody has to do something somewhere. We are sitting in a swamp. It is not stopping.”
Ziehr said that in the short term, “we have put restrictions on any new developments that go in there, to ensure they retain some of the drainage on their own parcels.”
County council studied a professional agrologist/biologist review and aerial photos of the area, during both spring and fall. Precipitation in both wet and dry years was measured. The results showed the wetlands had periods of increased water retention in 1970 and 1974, prior to the construction of the industrial area, and the engineers felt the runoff was not a contributing factor in increased water levels.
“While I am sympathetic to what you are experiencing, to council it has been demonstrated that this is a historical issue that has been on the property,” said Reeve Amber Link.
Ron Warrick, who has historical knowledge of the area and farmed the area, stated there is a problem and said it seems like there should be a simple remedy. He stated in the 1970s there were a lot of trees along the adjacent property that may skew the findings of the report, as they are no longer there to take up large amounts of water. He also said there wasn’t salination at that time, or the former nursery that was there wouldn’t have planted trees in the area. He verified the development has made problems worse.
Councillor Tom Ikert said council would be open to working with Rocky View County on solutions and they needed to have staff look into runoff solutions. Boldt urged council to ensure the property owner met the original development requirement, by developing a storm water retention pond on the industrial park’s property.
“Right now, we need to continue to work with the developer to put that in place,” said Alan Parkin, Wheatland County chief administrative officer.
Council accepted the information and would discuss their involvement in regard to the issue at the planning and priority meeting.