An engineer’s report on the Jan. 13 flooding of Harris Street here will be presented to Guelph-Eramosa council on Feb. 4.
The 11-page report from R.J. Burnside and Associates states nearby developer Charleston Homes is responsible for the failure of two storage ponds, which damaged up to eight homes and yards on Harris Street in Rockwood.
According to Burnside engineers Jackie Kay and Gord Feniak, when the developer excavated a temporary sediment pond, it also regraded the berm on the side of the existing Rockwood Ridge phase three stormwater pond already assumed by the township.
“This activity not only caused a substantial reduction on the storage capacity of the existing pond, it also reduced the eastern edge of the existing pond to an elevation that was lower than the high flow outlet of the existing pond,” Kay and Feniak state.
They later add, “The actual on-site modifications were completed without receipt of an acceptable work plan and without prior notification or approval.”
The report concludes: “The flooding of Harris Street … was an isolated incident caused by the subdivision not yet having an adequate drainage outlet and by the developer installing temporary works on an ad hoc basis and then failing to maintain them properly.”
Representatives from Charleston Homes have not returned repeated phone calls from the Advertiser.
