Quesnel Neighbourhood Still Slipping Away

By 250 News

Engineer addresses gathering in Quesnel to talk about plans to stabilize the Uplands neighbourhood.   

With $1.2 million dollars from the Province, and a further $250 thousand of its own, the City of Quesnel is taking another step in its efforts to shore up a subdivision in West Quesnel.

The 2100 residents of the Uplands area of West Quesnel have been watching and waiting for a plan as the land on which their homes were built, shifts.  Some cases are worse than others, some haven’t seen any evidence of physical damage, but one thing is clear, the earth is moving. 

Engineered studies show too much groundwater is playing a part in much of the movement.  The ground movement is happening at depths between 100 and 300 feet and the movement is 1-3 inches a year. 

On the surface, that means, cracks in basement foundations, or in the case of Voyageur Elementary school, cracks in the floor and the separation of walls.

photo on the left shows fresh crack on the floor of Voyageur Elementary School,   on the right,  the walls are showing signs of separation

The City of Quesnel has been trying to identify and develop an action plan for half a dozen years and this summer plans to be one of the  busiest yet. 

With engineering studies under their belt, City of Quesnel  reps  explained to a group of concerned residents at Voyageur School  there will be several components to the 2006  action plan:

-geotechnical and hydrogeological technologies will continue to measure the slope, the shifting and the groundwater characteristics.

-results of the testing will be used to evaluate the best options for reducing groundwater pressures.

-a series of tests will be conducted to see which method is most effective

-storm sewer on Bettcher Street will be upgraded

Photo at right is of Shilo Carlson and Ben Pierce ,Engineers with AMEC Engineering, measure ground movement  using a slope indicator

The City says it wants to find out what method of water removal will give it the best bang for the buck. 

Through all of this, the residents have been supportive.   John Bolton lives in the neighbourhood, he is one of the lucky ones.  His home is built on a lot that has excellent drainage, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been hit by the overall impact.  “Property values here are about half of what they are in the rest of the City” says Bolton.  “I’m hoping that once we get this resolved, our homes will see their values return, you know, we can’t even afford to sell what we have and buy another house in Quesnel because we would lose so much money.”

Mayor Nate Bello is grateful the community has worked together on this matter.  “It really has been a grassroots community effort” says Bello “We really have worked hard to get help from the Provincial government.” 

There is still a lot of work to be done and Bello says it will take significant funding, and its money the City of Quesnel can’t afford on its own “To finish the project we will need about $12 million dollars.  There is no assurance they will come through with that funding, but through all the work we’ve been doing and if we get the results we think we will get, then we can be pretty confident they (the province) will come through with the funding.”

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us