City council is laying the blame on standing water issues at a condo complex in the south end of the city on the developer New Rock.
City council voted unanimously on Monday to receive and file the report but asked the city administration to hold discussions with New Rock and report back to city council to find a solution.
David Paxman, president of The Estates at Creekstone condo board, addressed Moose Jaw City Council on Monday night asking for a bylaw exemption to allow three until in particular that have issues with standing water and would like to run their sump pumps into the sewer system.
"Those three particular units they seem to be a little bit lower than the rest of us, so they run more often so there is too much water. The rest of us, we pump the water onto our grass and it works out pretty good," said condo board president David Paxman.
That request was initially denied because, according to The Building Bylaw, "No person shall construct downspouts or a drainage system which drains storm drainage into the city’s sanitary sewer system" and "drainage tile at the footing level of a basement is required to connect to a sump pit. The owner is responsible for pumping out the pit when necessary and discharging this water to the front or rear of the property."
It was pointed out that the street is private property. Councillor Dawn Luhning asked why there are no checks and balances to make sure the drainage was done properly. City administration said the development was done in 2012 and predates the current director of engineering Bevan Harlton and city manager Jim Puffalt. Both agreed that the placement and slope of the road should be been caught during the development stage.
"In this instance, had this come across my desk I would be referencing The Building Bylaw, checking the paved area of the paved lots and if it is above some threshold the city requires storm drains to be put in place," Harlton said.
In the letter that Paxman sent to the City of Moose Jaw and City Council, New Rock Developments did not install a storm drain in the cul-de-sac on the street. As a result, when residents drain water from their sump pumps to the storm drain in a grassy area, the slope of the street does not drain all the water leaving a mess of standing water.
"It has become the standard with New Rock," Paxman told city council. "They built this thing and I don't necessarily want to be picking against them, but they refuse to help us in this area and they are building one just like it and it has the same problem already."