McKenzie Lake hillside eroding as city ponders plan to shore it up

Calgary city council will consider next month how to shore up a slumping hillside in the deep southeast part of Calgary.

The edgekeeps creeping closer to the backyards of people who live along Mt. Alberta View S.E. in the community of McKenzie Lake.

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The city has spent$4.4 million inrecent years to stabilize the slope. It has recovered $3.8 million of that from the province's Disaster Recovery Program (DRP).

However, the erosion continues and has resulted in the temporaryrelocation of a city pathway, which isbetween the houses and the edge of the hillside. The path has been damaged along a 3.5-kilometre stretch on the escarpment.

Active movement has been noted in the slope over the past several years.Flooding alongthe Bow River below the hillhas cut into the escarpment.Heavy rains and what the citycalls 'extreme weather events' in 2005, 2007, and 2011-2015 have further damaged the hill.

A confidential report was presented to the city's transportation and transit committee this week. It outlined four options for the city to deal with the erosion and preserve the pathway.

The committee was toldone option is to extend a retaining wall in the hardest hit zone. A 90-metrelong wall was built in 2009 and it has apparently stabilized the slope in that area. No dollar estimate has been released for extending the wall.

Matt Pachell, who owns a housebackingonto the escarpment, wants the city to act decisively.

Hetold the committee, "If we continue to do the remedialwe heard the word 'band-aid'solutions, the problem will only get worse and the cost to remediate the problem will only go higher."

The houses were built in 1997-98 when McKenzie Lake wasdeveloped, and the paved pathway was put down in 2000. The property linewasset back18 metres from the edge of the bluff, but that has dwindled in places.

Ward 12 Coun.Shane Keating said the city will look at ensuring there's more of a setback for houses for future communities to preventsimilar problems.

He said the city's priority is to protect the pathway,which is an important resource for cycle commuters as well as forrecreational use by area residents. Counts done by the city found about 2,000 people perday use the pathway.

Keating said the erosionneeds fixing. "There's no danger of the slope falling or any homes being in any danger as we stand today, but as time goes on, we're obviously going to see things slide a little more."

Besidethe pathway issue, a report done for the transportation committee noted that adjacent property owners on Mt. Alberta View and Mt. Douglas Close are concerned about the potential loss of property value, and their ability to reselltheir homes because ofthe instability of the slope.