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Wiesel Creek fixed, but not moved

Municipality shores up the road to fix future erosion
wes wiesel DSC_8902
Westlock County hopes it has solved the problems at Wiesel Creek by shoring up the road and installing a guardrail.
WESTLOCK — After at least 30 years, including two years of permit delays, and an engineer’s reevaluation, Westlock County fixed Wiesel Creek without moving it. 

Instead, they shored up the road last month and put a guardrail in place. In a Dec. 18 press release on their Facebook page, the county announced that “the erosion and infrastructure concerns have been addressed.” 

The project cost $140,630, cheaper than the estimated $185,000 price tag on moving the creek 20 metres east of Road Range 265 as they originally intended in 2017. 

“We were able to basically maintain the road without affecting the creek. That was the solution after all these years of talking about moving it,” said interim CAO Rick McDonald. 

The creek has been causing the road to erode since at least the 1980s. 

“It’s one of our priorities when we got in, it was kind of an ongoing issue. We had it on our strategic plan that we wanted to get after it. Any project, especially around a creek, there’s a lot of environmental stuff we need to make sure we’re doing, that was kind of the hold up,” said reeve Jared Stitsen. 

The possibility that the ditch and the creek were fish-bearing waters meant the county needed both provincial and federal approval to move it. In 2017, they had the required permits from the Alberta government under the Water Act, with a 2019 deadline to complete the project and $40,000 budgeted for the Wiesel Creek move. 

Getting the Department of Oceans and Fisheries to sign off meant additional engineering studies, an updated Fisheries Habitat Report — the county had a dated one from 2003 — and approval from the Aboriginal Consultation Office, and the price tag more than quadrupled. 

At the time, the county didn’t have a process to consult with First Nations people. 

In 2018, when the county was on track to move the creek by 2019, the rules on working within a road right of way changed. Alberta Transportation closed the road that year between Township Roads 602 and 604, anticipating construction. 

The project got delayed again in 2019, twice because Oceans and Fisheries asked for more clarity on the impact the move would have on fish, and again when the department changed the rules around releasing permits. Each request added another five months to the timeline. 

One of the documents they requested, a letter of credit detailing the costs of the entire project, would’ve cost $50,000 alone. 

“It’s a simple project that’s tied up with red tape,” said director of infrastructure Al Scott in a Sept. 10, 2019 council meeting, when the county was already three months behind a July projected start date for construction. 

Andreea Resmerita, TownandCountryToday.com

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