By Cecilia Nasmith
Following a year of significant flooding in 2019, Cobourg council has approved a Flood Mitigation and Sandbag Policy at this week's council meeting.
The only councillors voting in opposition were Deputy Mayor Suzanne Seguin and Councillor Emily Chorley – and Chorley based her opposition on two points related to sandbags.
The first was the failure to spell out how used sandbags should be disposed of. As she recalled from a presentation from emergency manager Shannon Murphy last year, the sand in these used bags can become contaminated, so it can't just be dumped anywhere.
Director of Public Works Laurie Wills said the policy does include a note requiring “appropriate” disposal at the proper facility. This would typically be at a landfill, though it would be at a cost since the used sand would be considered garbage and charged for.
The second was the town's failure to provide sandbags, or even the materials for them.
This is in contrast to what is being done in the Municipality of Brighton, which also had a significant year of flooding in 2019. From among several options, they decided to supply the sandbags and the sand at no cost for residents to assemble and take home their own.
“It's basically the model we had last year,” Chorley said.
She wondered why Brighton continues to supply these materials at 11 stations across the municipality when it has about half the population of Cobourg.
Wills said the town might stockpile these materials, but had no way of knowing how much would be needed and might be stuck with a lot of the materials (as well as the cost for them).
Furthermore, she added, “it's a pretty difficult thing for residents to come to a site, shovel it into their truck, take it home and shovel it out – very labour-intensive.”
At a cost of about $14 for 25 sandbags and $17 per ton of sand, she said, it's not a great expense.
Councillor Brian Darling, who has done some sandbagging himself, agreed.
“It's a lot easier to have the sand delivered to the site and fill the bags and put them in place, rather than filling them off-site and putting them into a vehicle,” Darling said.
“They are about 60 lb. a bag when they are filled.”
Vote notwithstanding, Chorley had an item later on the agenda very much on the same topic. She put forth a notice of motion that would have council direct staff to draft a Flood Mitigation and Response Plan in consultation with the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority and other relevant agencies no later than Sept. 14.
The motion will come before council at its April 20 committee-of-the-whole meeting, following a vote in which only Councillor Aaron Burchat voted in opposition.
