Minutes of the Seymour Escarpment Committee Meeting

February 24, 2005

DNV Hall, 355 W Queens Rd,  Meeting Room B

Meeting called to order at 7:35 p.m.    Patrick Murray (acting chair), Bill Maurer (acting secretary), Steve Chan, Les Fowler, Phil Sunderland, Nancy Van Insberge, Shirley McLaren, Dave Mundie, Dave Davey, Cas Bohlken, Monica MacDonald, Adele Labrie, Phil Bates, Keith Errington, Henry Reisner, Marianne Lobel, Tony Webb, Russ Curtis, Erwin Hotstettner, Flori Hayes, Grace Tyler, Alec Ritchie, Dave Everwin, Jim Porter (this list may be incomplete. please review for correctness).

 1.  Historical Landslide Map:  There were some copies of this map at the meeting showing all slides off the Seymour Escarpment from the 70's to today. It is available from the Engineering Departmnet for $15.

 2.  Private Committee:  Patrick argued that the committee should be separated from the community associations which founded it so that it can keep information private. Bill argued that the committee has been formed by the SVCA and BCA to resolve long term slope stability issues on the Seymour Escarpment and the best way to do this is through a public committee which represents the larger community.

 3.  Riverside Terrace:  A question was raised on the status of the Riverside Terrace project with concern about the destabilization that this project might cause. Bill mentioned that the developers would be deciding whether or not to make a development application within the next few weeks and that the projected units for this development would force it past the SLP phase 1 timeframe (2003-2007). The SVCA montiors this project and will inform the community if activities occur. The powerline work occurring near the property has nothing to do with Riverside Terrace.

 4.  Piezometers:  These devices measuring water pressure / levels in the soil are being installed on the top edge of the escarpment. They will assist the district in determining the next set of residents to return to their homes. It is predicted that 6 homes will be returning in 2 weeks. The piezometers will also form an early warning system during heavy rainfall periods.

 5.  Blueridge feeling abandoned:  Dave feels that he is not getting enough information from the district. Building inspectors have visited his home to check his drain tile.

 6.  Yahoo group:  Russ has set up a Seymour Escarpment yahoo group for private group communication.

 7.  Water main:  Cas mentioned that there is a second water main which runs just behind Treetop lane, from the end of Riverside drive,  via the Baden Powell trail, and then directly up the escarpment to Hyannis Point.

 8.  Swinburne Sale:  A property on Swinburne which was listed at $619K has recently (post slide) been sold for $585K. The bank required a geotech report for the property above the one being sold before they would approve a mortgage. It was mentioned that a detailed geotech report would cost between $5K to $10K but a visual inspection similar to a house inspection, might only cost $1000.  A typical Geotech rate for this might be $110/hour.

 9.  Storm Sewers:  The district is required to bring storm sewer connections to the property line. The owner is required to hook up from there. Many properties don't have a storm sewer connection at the property line (indicated by the red lines on the utility map).

10.  Plumbing Card:  To find out all permitted plumbing connections to a property you can go to the District Engineering Department and request the plumbing card for that property.

11.  Bylaws:  Remedial work needing to be done must follow bylaws which are enforced by orders from the district. An owner must then comply within the specified time. Owners which do not comply can be fined or taken to court. Bylaw 6515 - "Environmental Protection and Preservation Bylaw" covers sloping terrain and trees. Bylaw 6656 - "Sewer Bylaw" covers drainage.

12.  Motion:  There was discussion of a motion made by Alec Ritchie and seconded by Dave Everwin. It is a 3 part motion which had support in principal. It was felt that it would not be prudent to take a vote on the motion until the exact wording was provided. No determination was made as to who was tasked with providing the exact wording. This is to be brought forward again at the next meeting.

13.  Geotechnical report:  There was discussion that the Klohn-Leonoff report had been based on visual inspections and that the next report would require more detailed inspections. It was also stated that the geotechnical model used for the previous report would require review since the property that slid was rated in a lower risk category than other properties that experienced no visible sliding. The classifications used in that report were very low risk, low risk, and moderate risk.

14.  Next meeting:  scheduled for Wednesday March 9th (originally Thursday, March 10th), DNV Hall Meeting Room B, 7:30pm.  Please RSVP.

 Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.