The procedures for the project pursuant to the Drainage Act were reviewed. All directly affected owners will be mailed a copy of the drainage report and notifications for the meetings will be provided as required by the Drainage Act. The overall drainage report procedure, future maintenance processes and grant eligibility were generally reviewed with the owners.

The owners were also advised that the works will be subject to the approval of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (D.F.O.), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (M.N.R.F.), and the Essex Region Conservation Authority (E.R.C.A.). We further discussed bridge maintenance, sizing, and use of reinforced concrete material for the bridge installation.

lV.   FIELD SURVEY AND INVESTIGATIONS

Subsequent to the on-site meeting we arranged for a topographic survey of the drain and bridges to be completed. We further arranged to receive updated assessment roll information from the City and obtained information on the tax class of each of the properties affected by the Municipal Drain.

The City worked in close cooperation with the Essex Region Conservation Authority (E.R.C.A.) regarding their requirements or any D.F.O. (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) requirements for work that would be proposed to be carried out on the Cahill Drain – Upper Part. A response from the Conservation Authority was received by email on June 27th, 2017 and indicated that the City must apply for a permit and follow standard mitigation requirements. Additionally, E.R.C.A. required that any proposed structure must not adversely impact the flow regime of the drain for all storms up to and including a 1 in 100 year storm event. We also reviewed the City and D.F.O. maps for fish and mussel species at risk and find that there are no species indicated in the vicinity of this project for the Class ‘F’ drain. A copy of the concerns and requirements to satisfy E.R.C.A. and D.F.O. is included in Appendix “REI-A” of this report.

Former Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry (M.N.R.F.) agreements are replaced with new legislation provisions under Ontario Regulation 242/08, Section 23.9 which allows repairs, maintenance and improvements to be conducted by the City within existing municipal drains administered by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (M.E.C.P.). These works are exempt from Sections 9 and 10 of the Endangered Species Act provided that the rules in the regulations are followed by the City and their contractor. When eligible, the new regulations allow Municipalities to give notice to M.N.R.F. by registering their drainage activities through an online registry system.

V.   PIPES AND BRIDGES REVIEW

As part of our investigations, we made detailed inspections of all of the bridges along the open drain. Their condition and proposed work, if any, is summarized as follows:

Bridge Summary

1.  This bridge serves parcel 080-140-00100-0000. The bridge, which comprises of a reinforced concrete box culvert with reinforced concrete headwalls, serves as the primary access and is in good condition. As this is the primary access for the lands, we would also recommend that the bridge, for which the maintenance costs are to be shared with the upstream lands and roads within the watershed, be maintained by the City and that said maintenance would include works to the bridge culvert, bedding, backfill and end