Petition garners support from City Council

On Tuesday (Feb. 8), Merritt City Council was presented with a petition from residents living above the Coldwater River clay-banks.

The petition was asking for support from Council to ensure the area is fortified to protect the residents and their properties.

“It is our understanding that, the flooding eroded the land around the Middlesborough Bridge and that area will need to be repaired and fortified in order to support the new bridge. The river’s new course is eroding the clay banks near the bridge and it is not a matter of if, but when, there will be damage to the land and the roads in that area. Fir Road is in danger, not only from devastating flooding, but from regular seasonal high water and ice floes,” reads the petition.

“We are asking that while the Middlesborough bridge is being repaired and the surrounding land being fortified, that the clay banks on the Coldwater river will also be protected in the way that is deemed most effective and environmentally responsible,” continued the document.

Following the presentation, Merritt City Council voted unanimously in favour that ‘Council instruct staff to research and consider potential ways to reinforce and protect the clay banks on the Coldwater river during the Middlesborough Bridge reconstruction project.’