The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is considering building a new dyke between Erieau and Erie Beach to prevent recurring flooding from a rising Lake Erie when waves are high.
Councillors will discuss a preliminary report at a special council meeting Thursday night and determine if they want to proceed with a more detailed final report for the new dyke along Erie Shore Drive.
The report recommends building a new $8.9 million dyke and abandoning all groynes (shore protection structures) and seawalls that are currently part of the Burk Drainage Works.
The new $8.9 million dyke is the least expensive option and includes relocating the Lakeshore Drain and constructing a new dyke to the farm side to improve the structural integrity and prevent the area from flooding. Drainage features would include storm sewers and a pump to discharge floodwater on Erie Shore Drive directly into the lake.
The engineer said the preferred option provides increased flood protection for the lands within the limits of the Burk Drainage Works to a level similar to that provided by the dyke systems to the east and the west of the area, would minimize the duration of flooding, and will also provide front yard drainage for the residential lands south of Erie Shore Drive.
The other three options not recommended are the same as the recommended option above but with a reservoir and second pump for added drainage with a price tag of $9.9 million, rock and groyne features installed on the lake bed to promote beach formation along the shore at a cost of $61.6, or installing large boulders interlocked together to control erosion along the shoreline at a cost of $83.3 million.
Property owners will be on the hook for some of the project's price tag if it moves forward and would have an opportunity to appeal those costs if they choose.
Preliminary estimates for the recommended option peg costs for agricultural lands at around $3,700 per acre and assessments to lakefront lots, depending on their length of frontage, at approximately $5,180 on average. The municipality would pay for the roads affected by the drainage work and that would work out to around $1.7 million.
Groynes that could be abandoned are long narrow shoreline protection structures built out from the beach into the lake to limit the movement and loss of beach sand.
The engineer concluded that “the existing groynes and seawalls have greatly deteriorated and serve no useful purpose” and “repairing the groynes and seawalls to the standard set out in the current by-laws would not provide the degree of flood protection desired by the lakefront owners."
Property owners opposing the abandonment of groynes and seawalls would have 10 days to request an engineer’s report regarding the proposed abandonment.
A majority of lakefront property owners along Erie Shore Drive must also sign a petition if they want the more expensive rock and groyne features and interlocked boulders.
Erie Shore Drive has flooded on many occasions and the current dyke needed urgent repairs in February 2020 to improve its stability after significant flooding. At that time, engineers said the repairs were a short-term solution only and that a longer-term solution was necessary.
If Council chooses to not proceed with a final report, the current rehabilitation process will stop.