A combination of heavy rain and the clearcutting of lands for a road and condominium development adjacent to their properties have caused what Hibberd Lane residents describe as muddy flooding, the likes of which they’ve never seen before.
“My backyard has been flooded incessantly for the past two weeks. I never had problems like this before,” said John Tuttle.
He said he’s had to deal with up to six inches of water in his basement and, while the Town has been out to speak to him about the issue and representatives for the developer have assured him that his property would be looked after, it could’ve been avoided.
“I mean they’ve stripped all the organic, they’ve stripped all of the trees, they’ve stripped everything so all we’re getting is just a torrential mudslide,” he said on Thursday, July 15.
Tuttle did give credit to the Town as well as the developer for responding quickly. “They have responded in a timely fashion. They have come to the table with a plan to fix this problem… but at the same time, this could’ve all been avoided if they would’ve put the proper drainage in place ahead of time. I get that we’ve had a lot of rain and that’s what everybody is going to say… but you have to plan for that hundred-year storm,” he said. “They came and clear-cut this in March and we’ve had nothing but water problems ever since.”
Tuttle said he loves Huntsville but it’s starting to lose its charm. “Everywhere you look forests are coming down… the town’s being swallowed up by development and I get it needs to happen, I get that, but this is more than I ever expected… All I need them to do is solve this problem.”
Mandy Bailey also lives on Hibberd Lane and said the flooding has been bad. “There used to be a big hill behind us, so they’ve leveled out the hill and now there’s nothing protecting us. We’re on a downhill and then [the water goes]down into the ravine and through everybody’s houses and properties,” she said.
“We’ve had rain before, I mean downtown Huntsville was flooded a couple of years before, so I can’t attribute this to excessive rain. I’ve never seen mud like this before… this can really affect a lot of things,” said Bailey, adding that she’s concerned for her dug well “because our well is in the backyard, and everything is just flushed over it.”
Cheyenne Wood lives in the area, too. She said the backlands were once covered in trees which prevented erosion and helped absorb water and since the lands were cleared it has caused mud and water to come down onto all of their properties and wash away part of the lane which the residents maintain.
Huntsville Mayor Karin Terziano said municipal staff have confirmed that “the washout is coming from Devonleigh Homes and it was on account of the amount of rain that we’ve had and that they don’t have their stormwater management system built yet, so Devonleigh are well aware of it. They’ve met onsite with the homeowners, and they are absolutely going to make everything right.” Terziano added that the Town’s engineer is working with the developer’s engineer to see what they can do to mitigate any further damage if the area gets more rain before the stormwater system is in place.
The developer, Andrew Kidd, said they have been focused on trying to mitigate runoff. “You can appreciate until the site is developed and until, you know, such things as storm sewers are fully constructed… there’s kind of an in-between period where you have to manage these sort of things and we’ve been doing exactly that,” he said, adding that with the excessive rain that the area has had, it’s been a challenge but they’re “laser-focused” on mitigating the situation to get it under control.
“There’s an existing storm pond for the development already there and it’s sized for the development and so it’s just a matter of diverting and making sure we have check dams in place. Just on the topography of that land, there’s no question that Hibberd Lane is on the low side, so I would imagine that whether that property was developed or not when you consider the amount of unbelievable, excessive, aggressive rain that we’ve had… I mean there’s flooding all over Muskoka,” he said, adding, “we are not going anywhere, we are working to get this under control. It’s hard to do… you think you have it under control and then you get a flash flood where you get two inches of rain in an hour.”
In terms of damage to properties, he said “those are issues that we’ll work through on an individual basis.”
You can find more about the development here.
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BOB MAC DONALD says
When all else fails, blame the weather, not poor management.
John Mitchell says
I fully agree Bob, like the cart before the horse. Putting things right after the damage is done does not address the quality of life lost because of these “developments” within our town.
Brenda St.John says
WHEN are we going to realize the environmental and geographical effects of mass destruction of land, rockscapes and forest? Not only is it robbing the town of its beauty, but development is raging out of control and will cause further disasters!! Is there anyone looking out for the devestating overall impact or are we only concerned about personal financial gains of wealthy developers???
Em Arde says
Looks like Devonleigh’s name is mud right now.
Harolyn Hussain says
I agree with all of the above plus remember “Climate Change” will add more to the equation !!! Good luck to all.
Sandy McLennan says
“loves Huntsville but it’s starting to lose its charm”. Yup. Avoidable, getting very late.
“Don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone”: depends on point of view and priorities. We actually, as a community and society, might declare how we wish to preserve what we have today and for future generations, but it seems greed and money-making trump that.
Mitigating after clear-cutting? Like, didn’t see that coming? It seems questions/answers were developer-convenient, not future-oriented.
“I would imagine that whether that property was developed or not when you consider the amount of unbelievable, excessive, aggressive rain” Rain as bad-guy. “Would imagine”? How about going beyond that.
Developed or not? The evidence is agreed-upon that clear-cutting is the reason for the particular issue and problem in the story. Can’t hide that with words that attempt to distract.
J.R. Bruce Cassie says
Andrew Kidd’s developments in our area represent the most comprehensively planned, environmentally responsible and consistently maintained housing sites in Muskoka and beyond. Unlike many developers who start with the necessary removal of trees and then leave the sites for months (even years) before returning to install the expensive and labour-intensive infrastructure for storm water management, he invests the required funds and completes his projects as quickly as possible. In doing so, he is able to limit damage done by weather extremes such as Canada has had this year. Clearly, this was an exceptional and unexpected deluge; this developer won’t sidestep his responsibility to work with adjacent residents to address the matter.
Dudley Reid says
The blame always rests with the people who approve. They must ensure the approval is administered in accordance with their approval. If not administered properly then the persons approving must be held accountable including damages as a result of their inability to manage their corporate responsibility.
In other words Council and the top executive, the CAO, and not the generic term staff.
Real question, why was the stormwater management completed.
Bob Vtech says
Welcome to the “City of Huntsville”.
Does anyone have control over development?
Paradise lost!
Brian Tapley says
Welcome to the “new normal” as we progress a bit further into our climate change “real time” experiment.
Of course we did not expect such a heavy rainfall. In 60 years the fastest rise of Lake of Bays, where I live , that I have ever seen was about 2 inches per 24 hours and that during spring run off. Last week we saw a 5 inch rise in 2.5 hours. I can see why a developer might have trouble with this kind of rainfall.
This said, one cannot deny the harmful side effects and the bigger the project and steeper the hill the worse it will be. Preparedness for things like this obviously requires more thought and effort than even a reputable construction company thought was sufficient.
Just wait till they get seriously into the Shay road area as it is the sort of start of the watershed that runs down past A&W where the flooding happened a few years ago. That poor little creek down there will not likely be able to handle what it is going to see as this area changes from a fully treed mix of swamp and hills to some more level, more paved and developed land. Retention ponds better be big and maintained well in this area.
Sadly our progression, world wide, into this climate change experiment with our current course of actions is simply unstoppable.
Not only is it not something we can “stop” it is not something we can ever “reverse” so even though we do not fully understand what we are doing to our climate, we will have to live with the results of this experiment as we proceed…. forever. This is worth thinking about.
Alice Gray says
In the bigger picture why do the trees need to come down?
Why not make a neighbourhood in the trees?
Why not leave tree avenues?
More privacy.
Perhaps less houses. Less profit.
Better in the long run?
Wanda Roberts says
Re Mr Cassie’s Comment
Mr Cassie may have thought that Andrew Kidd (Devonleigh) was a developer who “comprehensively plans”and is ” environmentally responsible” when he sold the land to to Mr. Kidd for the development, but I disagree.
Threats posed by climate change were made clear in June 23, 1988 by Dr. James Hansen then director of NASA’s Institute for Space Studies. It has been a concern since the 1950’s. The David Suzuki Foundation has been warning of increased in severity and frequency of storms, heat waves, wildfires and heavy rains for years. All of this is not new information. This rain event, this” exceptional and unexpected deluge” as Mr Cassie writes, was definetely to be expected and planned for. Erratic weather patterns are today’s reality and should and must be factored into any planning and development.
There are Green Developers to be found and it is incumbent upon the Mayor and Council to encourage and support theses developers only.
These developers do not clear cut, but selectively cut to preserve trees and vegetation that secure soil, prevent erosion and absorb moisture. They are sensitive to wetlands and their value as a giant sponges that absorb excess water. The storm pond that Andrew Kidd speaks of is a piece of wetland that following this storm, filled with silt from building sites that were stripped bare and from new homes built, waiting for landscaping. I have seen a diversity of species in the pond before this storm: ducks, geese, beaver, frogs and Red winged Blackbirds. My cat will not drink out of it now.
The traditional developer who maximizes every square inch of land to make a huge profit at environmental sacrifices should not be welcomed ito our town. Parkets are not enough.
Allen Markle says
In our towns’ declaration of a ‘climate change emergency’ there is the statement that the Town of Huntsville wishes to protect its’ economy, community and ecosystems from the impact of climate change’. But apparently not from developers.
Trees cool the land, store carbon and produce oxygen. Not part of our climate change problem? The wetland that was earmarked for run-off catchment; was it not a little ecosystem and an aquifer of sorts? But not of consequence in the bigger picture. And the homes on Hibberd Lane are apparently such a small part of the community that the Town of Huntsville wishes to protect.
There was one person who refers to a sort of ‘walk on water’ character of this developer. Well there were only four households to impact (I believe) and he touched them all.
And though it may have been one deluge that caused the most damage, these people had been inundated for a couple of weeks! Some kind of “laser focus”. In one of the photos there is a large power shovel that apparently wont start because I’m pretty sure it could have been used to create berms and ditches in two weeks; if it ran.
And we need some engineers who know that water runs down hill! Little children with sticks and puddles know.
This comment may seem a bit harsh but I really feel for the people of Hibberd Lane. You don’t deserve to have your homes disregarded in this way. The developer can do as he pleases on his land, for there doesn’t seem to be much overview from the Town, (they apparently didn’t know water runs downhill either), but he has no right to destroy what you have built.
I hope you and your insurance company will get a good lawyer.