Overview

During the extreme rainfall event on November 15, 2021, the District, which was concerned about localized flooding and public safety, closed Chalet Road at Chalet Creek, which runs beneath the road through a culvert. 

Later the same day, the culvert failed. This resulted in a loss of the roadway embankment and a section of water main.  Approximately 300 cubic metres of material and debris was washed downstream into the creek bed.

Soon after, the District completed interim emergency construction repairs to the site. The District’s immediate goal in this emergency response was to stabilize the area, especially given the expectation of additional heavy rainfall throughout the winter months. The District was also required to mitigate further erosion, limit environmental impacts, protect underground utilities, and remove unstable creek channels—a safety hazard for local residents.

While these interim repairs were absolutely necessary, staff also began planning long-term repairs.

Based on permitting requirements for both environmental and archaeological impacts, staff began planning permanent repairs to the site in November 2021, in order to meet a summer construction window in 2022.

The main project was completed and the road reopened in October, 2022. During the summer of 2023 minor work to repair a section of rock retaining wall between the culvert and ocean was undertaken to finish the in-stream works. This project improved the stream environment over the last 150m of this watercourse, improving fish and wildlife habitat while also providing District infrastructure that is more resilient to severe weather and climate change.

Completed

Following the public tender close on May 19, 2022, Northridge Excavating Ltd was selected as the successful proponent, based on the tender evaluation criteria including cost, experience and scheduling, for the Chalet Creek Culvert Replacement and Stream Restoration Project.

Project Details: A larger open arch culvert is planned with capacity to handle future extreme storm flows and allow the natural stream bed to be reinstated throughout the culvert. This will support fish passage in all flow conditions and allow the natural stream bed to be continuous. The project will also remediate the entire creek bed downstream to the high tide mark including creating salmonid habitat enhancement features such as spawning platforms, riffle pools, large woody debris and rock pools.

For specific information on the arch culvert type please see the Geotextile Reinforced Soil Bridges brochure.

Permitting: Provincial Permitting for Instream Works, Fish Protection and Salvage and Archaeological Protection has been obtained. The District is coordinating with Peninsula Streams Society and Tseycum First Nation on this important project.

Funding Partners: The Project has been accepted for partial funding from the Provincial Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) program.

Background

Since closing Chalet Road at Chalet Creek, the District has received public correspondence both supporting the road’s permanent closure and supporting its reinstatement.  As always, we thank the public for providing us with their perspective.

For both safety and operational reasons, the District is committed to reopening the road. A permanent closure of this section of road would slow down or block emergency responders rushing to the neighbourhood.  A permanent closure of this section of road would also have a negative impact on the local water utility, reducing its service and fire flow capacity.