By paNOW

Little Red River Park shuttered for the summer

Jul 9, 2013 | 12:55 AM

Little Red River Park will remain closed into the fall, until the City of Prince Albert can assess the full extent of the flood-related damage within the park.

“The water levels have still not got down to a level that we can ascertain what needs to be done in the park, and so as not to under-promise and over-deliver, we are saying that it will be fall before we have a full assessment,” city manager Robert Cotterill told city council Monday evening.

“And because we know that we need to replace bridges and we’re not too sure [of] the state of the road works.”

The park has been closed since June 20, as water rushing downstream from Anglin Lake caused Little Red River to expand and overflow. Much of the waters have receded in the last week. The flooding has damaged river banks, trails, bridges and trees.

The Water Security Agency had a dam near Anglin Lake opened after heavy rainfall caused the lake to swell with excess water. To relieve the pressure on the lake, the dam was opened up to release some of the water downstream.

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On the Canada Day weekend, the North Saskatchewan River peaked at more than two metres, resulting in a back-up where it meets the Little Red River. That back-up led to further flooding in the park.

But now, the flood damage may end up changing the face of the park.

After the meeting, Mayor Greg Dionne said some of the bridges and trees may be removed. The park may also have to be re-opened a section at a time.

“There’s two walking bridges there. They both have to be removed, because we can’t have people going across them. So, we’ll probably remove them,” he said.

“So it’s going to be a phased-in plan. Our first plan is to get the [Cosmo] Lodge open.”

The next order of business will be to get the parks crew back into Little Red to start to maintain the park.

“And then, once we get them back in, then we’ve got to help them, because the grass has been growing for weeks, months, and they haven’t had a chance to do it. There’s lots of trees that have to be cleaned up, so it’s going to be a phased in period.”

Dionne said the look of the park is different from what residents are used to.

“When people drive in[to] the park, they’re going to notice all the big trees are gone,” he said and added that as visitors travel further into the park, they’ll see less of the 70-foot trees than before. “They’re no longer there.”

He estimates that there are about 20 of these large trees that are now gone.

There are also some trees anchored in the river and aren’t moving. Dionne calls them an “eye sore,” and said the city needs to come up with a plan that involves using a piece of equipment that can go up the river and remove the trees in the water.

The trees have been lost mainly due to soil erosion – the soil surrounding the trees can no longer support the tree.

Trails within the park have also sustained damage caused by erosion. He said one trail that’s close to the ski hill has eroded away.

Dionne said they haven’t sent any staff down the trails, and they’ve only gone as far as the Cosmo Lodge. The remainder of the park remains sealed off to city staff because that’s where the bulk of the damage is, he added.

“And we don’t have to go down there,” he said. “You know, I say to everyone, ‘let’s not sadden ourselves, let’s wait until the water flow’s natural[ly]. We’ll put our equipment on, bring the crews with us, and then we’ll walk up and see where the real damage is.”

He said some of these areas will pose the biggest challenge because they’re not accessible from the road or they aren’t in open areas.

“So, we absolutely don’t know how we’re going to get the trees out of the water.”

The city also had to remove some trees, as well.

“We got pro-active, because the trees were leaning. And before they fell in the water and hit the bridge – that’s what damaged the bridge,” he said of the Little Red River Bridge on Highway 55.

“So, we got pro-active, because we were going to lose probably five of the big trees right by the bridge and we had to protect the integrity of the bridge. So, we went in with equipment and we removed some of the trees.”

Further into the park, more trees have been removed for the same reason.

“Once they started to lean into the water, we had to take them down, so they didn’t get in the water. Because once they get in the water, they become battering rams and they run right at that bridge at Highway 55. And so we had to protect the bridge.”

The stretch of road that does cross the bridge is subject to road restrictions. The lanes have been narrowed by orange traffic cones after debris struck one of the bridge’s piles a couple of weeks ago.

“Once the water goes down, and we can get the engineers right under that bridge to inspect it … we have the Urban Connector Program, disaster program, we’ll have to apply. Because, you have to remember, all this damage was caused by the dam being opened up at Anglin Lake. And so, it wasn’t a natural disaster.”

He said if the damage to the bridge were caused by a natural disaster, there would be funding models available.

“But because it was a controlled release, that they knew was going to do harm, that’ll be an issue. But that’s down the road, because first of all, we have to analyze the park and see what the damage is.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames