Fredericton to draw on public experience for flood prevention plan

Fredericton needs to improve infrastructure and find a way when the water is high to keep people shopping downtown, city hall staff heard Tuesday at a public meeting on flooding.

More than 50 people, including some city hall staff, attended the first of two public engagement meetings the city is holdingas it looksto make changes in how it deals with floods after back-to-back years of devastatingly high water.

"I think we've missed a window of opportunity yet again this year," said Jeff Thompson, who lives in the downtown plat. "No matter how big or small, you know, let's try some things."

Thompson said he spentthe past two springs trying to keep water out of his basement after the St. John River rose.After the flood in 2018, he did major work on his house to prepare for future floods.Now he wants the city to do the same.

The city needs to make some infrastructure upgrades as well, as water has been back flowing from storm drains onto his street, he said.

• City of Fredericton invites residents to share ideas about flood mitigation
• Water levels in Fredericton surpass last year's and keep rising downriver
• 'This is our problem now': climate change panellists discuss future floods

"Stop river water from back flowing up through city storm drains. That's how water gets there. It's not overlandat all, so that's number one. Don't be our own worst enemy."

Sean Lee,assistant director of engineering and operations for the city,said staff would take the suggestions from the public engagement meetingsand apply them to a comprehensive plan to make Fredericton"more resilient" when the St. John River rises.

"I sit in an engineeringoffice of City Hall, " he said. "So I can look at plans, I can look at data, and I can lookat elevation information, I can look at all of this type of stuff.

"But when we look out to the communities,we want to make sure we're not missing anything with all that information."

Downtown businesses suffer

Bruce McCormack,general manager of Downtown Fredericton Inc.,told city staff there needs to be better communication with the public when major floods hit.

"Let people know where they can park so they can still come into the downtown by other means. We are open for business," he said.

He said a week of flooding can do a lot of damage to downtown businesses. McCormack pointed to the provincial government telling its downtown employees to stay home, which meant fewer people spending money in the area.

"The last two years have been very difficult," McCormack said.

He also wants people to make better use of the park-and-ride transit option the city offered when it becomes harder to get into the city's downtown.

"They need to do a better job with signage, with advertising," he said."Parking is a premium.

"Parking is difficult at best. When you lose 1,000 spaces, that adds to the confusion, so we really need to identify these off-site locations for park-and-rides."

The city will host a second session on Aug.15 at the Ramada Inn from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.