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The hidden stream
At a press briefing Monday to promote the upcoming Public Information Centre regarding the future of the 200-metre culvert which takes the Uxbridge Brook from Centennial Park to north of the huge municipal parking lot behind Coffee Time, the Township’s director of public works, Ben Kester, couldn’t think of another place in Ontario where a stream of any significance is “buried” for such a distance.
Neither can we. The town is extremely fortunate that in the decades during which this situation has existed, no disaster has befallen us in the form of a major storm, a “regional storm” as explained in our story on page 7, to sweep away buildings and lives in a catastrophic flood. Hurricane Hazel in 1954 was just such a storm, so the parking lot must not have been so big then.
You only have to take one glance at the opening to the culvert just west of Chances Are to quickly understand that if the brook were suddenly to become swollen after a deluge like the one that hit Vermont just last month, only a very small proportion of the water could be accommodated through that opening. The rest would spill over the top and quickly wreak destruction throughout a considerable portion of the lower section of downtown. It would be very messy and very costly.
With the weather seemingly becoming increasingly unpredictable in the wake of global warming, the odds are getting heavier that we’re staring major trouble in the face. So it’s none too soon that the Region and Township are conducting an environmental assessment to determine the options for alleviation of the flood risk caused by what we’ll call the UB (for Uxbridge Brook) culvert (which, as Mr. Kester explained to us, is actually more like nine culverts in one, all of them different in age, structure, strength and other vital stastics).
Mr. Kester said five principal options would be laid out at the Nov. 2 meeting, options which he wouldn’t discuss in advance, presumably because he wants to get as many Uxbridge citizens as possible to the meeting to learn about and discuss them there. Whatever the options, you can bet that all of them are expensive, time-consuming and will in different ways alter the look of the corridor through which the brook currently travels.
As Wynn Walters explains in his letter on this page, the option most favoured by the Downtown Revitalization Committee (of which he was a member) was to re-open at least some of the 200 metres (the portion through the parking lot would be the cheapest to expose), and landscape it to make it an attractive area. Without knowing all the options, that makes a lot of sense to us. Relieving the flood danger and simultaneously beautifying the downtown is a pretty irresistable combination.
Particularly if you live in the flood plain, but even if you don’t, the future of the UB culvert or channel is a vital element of your own future in this town. We urge you to attend the Information Centre on Nov. 2 (details on page 7) and ask questions. Before another year is up, Council will be making an expensive decision on this issue. Make sure they choose the option that makes sense to you.
July 14, 2011
