Rennies River Flood Mitigation - Portugal Cove Rd to Kings Bridge Rd (2022)

What We Heard (WWH) during the second phase of public engagement for a proposed flood mitigation project for Rennies River from Portugal Cove Road to Kings Bridge Road, is now available. Feedback from this phase of public engagement is being included in the Environmental Preview Report submission to the provincial government.

The document will be presented to City Council during its regular meeting on Monday, April 18. Meetings are broadcast live on the City’s Website.

The public engagement process ran from March 8 to 22, 2022, and saw more than 66 people attend the virtual engagement session, 13 people submit feedback via email, one call to Access St. John’s and one comment on the project page at EngageStJohns.ca.

Topics that were raised during the engagement process include:

• Need to focus on upstream issues first and look at alternatives

• Questions around drainage, catch basins, temporary ponding and flooding risks to properties in the area

• Funding and timing of the project and relationship to Long Pond Flow Control project

• Impact of berms on properties and walking trail

• Impact of bridge repairs in the area and flow of water

• Concerns for fish habitat, trees, soil, conservation of habitat

• Requests for more data and time to review the proposal and explore all options

Read the complete WWH document at EngageStJohns.ca.

The next step is for city staff to complete the Environmental Preview Report for submission to the provincial government, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. The project is subject to a 45-day review period once submitted to the province.

The public will have another opportunity to comment on the project before the Minister makes a decision on the undertaking.

The Government of NL has released details of their public consultation process as part of the environmental assessment for the project as outlined here https://www.gov.nl.ca/eccm/projects/project-2115/. Deadline to submit feedback to the province is March 10, 2021. The minister's decision is due March 19, 2021.

At the Dec. 14 regular meeting of Council, the What we Heard document was tabled and discussed. Council approved a motion to refer the portion of work on Winter Avenue to the Province for Environmental assessment which will include public engagement as part of that process. Once the project is registered, this page will be updated.

What We Heard (WWH) during public engagement for a proposed flood mitigation construction project along parts of Rennies River is now available here.

The public engagement process saw 444 unique visitors to the project page at engagestjohns.ca. Over 40 people attended the virtual engagement session,13 people posted questions on the engage page, and two email submissions were received.

Questions were raised during the engagement process, including comments about:

• Environmental assessment, process, and timeline for the Long Pond Weir
• Water table, surface water and ground water
• Impact to public and private properties
• The health and beauty of the river
• The use and look of the proposed berms
• Impact of this project and the shared-use-path proposed for the area
• Upstream impacts created by the new hospital construction

The next step in the process is to submit environmental registration documentation to the provincial government for approval. Once approved, design is planned to take place during winter 2021, with construction to follow in spring/summer 2021.