Monday, August 26, 2019 ~ COLWOOD
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Colwood Council at their August 19 Committee of the Whole (CoW) discussed the need to deal with remediation of the Lookout Brook Dam, and at Council tonight Monday August 26 they approved the motion to proceed with securing a grant and doing more design preparation.
Colwood Mayor Rob Martin had been keen for staff be authorized to proceed with applying for a UBCM Community Emergency Preparedness Fund Structural Mitigation grant for $750,000, with an application deadline looming.
The total project cost is estimated as $1.3 million, says Mayor Martin.
The option of removing the dam was considered unacceptable to most of the councillors around the table at CoW last week. There was robust debate about whether to rush because of a particular grant deadline, and there were also concerns about the level of cost analysis that had been done.
As one resident said during public input on August 19 — Lookout Lake Park up on Triangle Mountain (made possible by the dam) is “a jewel for us, don’t destroy it”.
Remediation and seismic upgrading of the existing dam is considered necessary (and required by provincial legislation) largely because of damage that a water eruption would cause for homeowners downstream (who happen to live within the municipality of Langford). “Langford is aware of the dam and possible consequences if it failed,” said staff on August 19. Mayor Martin is unsure if the City of Langford has budgeted for their own participation in the necessary work.
Part of August 26 approved motion is for Colwood to seek clarification on a recent geotechnical engineering report. Moving ahead will include preparation of a preliminary design for a rockfill buttress to upgrade the dam, with staff given a benchmark of achieving a Class B (closer to actual) cost estimate for all required works.
The motion tonight was moved by Councillor Stewart Parkinson and seconded by Councillor Dean Jantzen.
At CoW last week, Councillor Gordie Logan voted against proceeding with these steps to remediate the dam, but tonight made a point of changing his vote and going even further to say the park should be made more user-friendly and more accessible, including beach improvements.
Councillor Doug Kobayashi tonight pointed out that this remediation is for that “one in five thousand chance” that a significant earthquake will happen, and that otherwise the dam has been well-maintained over the years.
The dam was inherited from the province when Colwood incorporated as a municipality in 1985. The dam was built by a private company in 1958.
The lake has been regularly stocked with rainbow trout and small mouth bass (part of the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC’s Fishing in the City program).