Discussions

I hope the 30 million dollar plan i:ncludes row boats to get to stage when the water rises!!!!!!!  
Seriously Brandon City Council!

What are you talking about?  
 
Maybe post a link if there is one or explain what city council wants to do at the riverbank.  
 
Edited by The_Young_Man, 2017-01-07 10:15:32

A marine center for viewing fish

Spend that on bridge that 3500 people used everyday!

Page 3. Brandon Sun. Today

ctct said "Page 3. Brandon Sun. Today "

Thanks, I will check it out.

the designs are made to factor in the flooding and built in a way they can withstand the flooding, what'should the issue?

Trevor B said "the designs are made to factor in the flooding and built in a way they can withstand the flooding, what'should the issue? "

IDK, maybe the price tag?  
 
while i agree if the plan takes into account all of the issues of that location and because i dont get the brandon sun i also dont really know the plan but 30 mill is a fair chunk of change so i really hope its the best thing to do with the funds given all the conflicting needs in our area

Find it funny that city council supports this project when it is estimated to cost $30 million, yet city council doesn't want to build a new 8th street bridge because it is estimated to cost $30 million. Then you have the mayor and councilors in the paper saying that $30 million is too much money to spend on just one project.  
 
I wish them luck though and if they can make the riverbank project happen, then good on them.

Riverbank Discovery has only been planning this for the last 3 or so years!!! And only now does everyone loose their minds!!!

The 8th St. Bridge reconstruction would benefit our commuters. Why does it need to focus on what makes the City $, &, honestly, how long would it take to regain the $30, 000,000 from the Riverbank Renewal? Are the tourists and residents going to pour $30, 000, 000 back into this exorbitant cost?

to spend in one place, on one venue. The walkway down to the foot bridge is a real mess, its been a mess since the flood, maybe with some of that money, they can fix the light post that has been falling over for the past 3 years.

Trevor B said "Riverbank Discovery has only been planning this for the last 3 or so years!!! And only now does everyone loose their minds!!! "

In the article in the Brandon Sun it also said the project was approved by council back in June of 2016. There's also been frequent articles in the Brandon Sun about this project and open houses on this project over the years. Its not like they just dropped the bomb on this one.

The_Young_Man said "    Trevor B said "Riverbank Discovery has only been planning this for the last 3 or so years!!! And only now does everyone loose their minds!!! " In the article in the Brandon Sun it also said the project was approved by council back in June of 2016. There's also been frequent articles in the Brandon Sun about this project and open houses on this project over the years. Its not like they just dropped the bomb on this one. "

i admit i dont always keep up on what is happening but honestly the paper isnt the best place to get info out anymore, nor should it be the only place

had posters made up and on display at the Discovery Centre for everyone to look at.  
 
There won't be a vehicle bridge at it's current location because of new design standards and requirements. And when all the proposed 8th St. bridge designs went to the public, no one liked them.

So, this has been in the works for several years. There have been open houses, multiple public planning workshops, online participation forums, etc...... Did you participate in ANY of the discussion or planning? Do you have a degree in civil or structural engineering? Didn''t think so....... The quoted budget is over a 20 year period, so don't think for a second that the city is shelling out 30million dollars all at once.  
 
LINK TO BUDGET:  
http://www.barc2015.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/3_Budget-F.pdf  
 
 
LINK TO PRELIMINARY MASTER PLAN:  
http://www.barc2015.ca/publicevents/preliminary-master-plan/  
 
The city is taking a phased approach over 20 years to connect and enhance several key areas along the riverbank corridor. The city and province have spent 10s of millions of dollars to improve and reinforce our dikes to prevent flooding of any new infrastructure. Do you honestly think they would build an amphitheater directly in the line of floodwaters?  
 
"The river will continue to flood and shape the corridor: work with it but do not try to control it. Analysis of the flood extents has clearly indicated that low lying areas between the riverbank and the primary dyke should be given back to nature and natural process with human recreational use as a secondary and seasonal activity when conditions permit."  
 
As you can see from the excerpt above, the city is well aware of what parts of the riverbank are prone to floods. They have taken that into account during the design phase.  
 
The Assiniboine riverbank corridor, if properly designed and implemented, would be a huge asset to all people in Brandon. I live in Brandon''s North End and was directly impacted by the 8th street bridge closure. As much as I would like to see a new bridge, I have accepted that it isn''t feasible and would only benefit a limited number of residents. So, I drive 4 minutes further West to the 18th street bridge. Have you ever considered commute times in larger cities? We don''t have it that bad!  
 
If you didn''t take part in the public consultation or discussions that have been ongoing for the last couple years, complaining about it on Ebrandon isn''t going to help.  
 
Edited by Mr. Smith, 2017-01-07 13:03:49

Yep great - the water will still flow to low areas. Bottom line when people are needing to get to these beautiful new expensive high platformed areas and structures they will either have to drive or walk to get there. So when the ground is wet or low areas are full of water it will be difficult to get to these expensive places - unless of course we have row boats or maybe our airport can do flyins!!!

Do you honestly think accessibility during high water hasn't been taken into account during design? Have you read the Master Plan or taken part in any of the discussions? If you had, you would be making such baseless statements.

traveller said "    Trevor B said "the designs are made to factor in the flooding and built in a way they can withstand the flooding, what'should the issue? " IDK, maybe the price tag?     while i agree if the plan takes into account all of the issues of that location and because i dont get the brandon sun i also dont really know the plan but 30 mill is a fair chunk of change so i really hope its the best thing to do with the funds given all the conflicting needs in our area "

This is all new news to me. Seems to me that this plan was kept pretty "low key" before any funding was committed. Thirty million to be spent on an entertainment venue in the flood plain, sounds dumb. Build a cheap permanent stage at the Keystone. That's the better choice for our councilors to be suggesting. We already have the Folk Festival at the Keystone and there's way better options to establish an year round outdoor venue for the city. No more schedule conflicts with the arena. There's a hotel, new camping accommodations for the entertainers and crew, way better parking & access/exits, established security & management, available food/drink vendors, trees that don't die and would probably be cheaper to build without all that flood prevention/waterproofing the structure and electric services required at the river.  
 
The recent history of our river bank proves that flooding can and will occur during anytime of the year. Spring, summer, fall and winter... It doesn't matter with climate issues, saturated ground, farmland drainage abuse and pi$$ poor flood control management upstream. Great idea if this was 2004, but we know now we shouldn't build anything down there. And now that the land is cut in half with the levee with one half dug down to make a reservoir pond for the North Hills storm drain network... where the heck is the nature preserve suppose to go if they plan a stage & spectator grounds? Wasn't that part of the original plans for the Discovery Center? ...To make it a natural plain with native grasses & plant life? Yeah, let's fill it full of stuff like trees that can't swim, structures that don't float and park hundreds of cars with thousands of people on the odd occasion to kill off whatever grass that manages to grow there between the floodings.  
 
Unless the city must spend this thirty million down at the river, because it's some sort of agreed grant form another level of government... We need to stop throwing away amounts of cash like that. Just fix the walking paths network, seed the whole area with native plants, get the lights working and leave it alone. Build better rec grounds elsewhere! WE NEED SOCCER FIELDS. WE NEED PROPERLY JOINED NETWORK OF BIKE LANES AND WALKING PATHS. WE NEED MONEY PUT BACK INTO EXISTING BALL DIAMONDS AND CITY PARKS. I can think of an dozen other civic priorities that should be addressed before building any sort of "fluff project". Not in the least a new "TITANIC VENUE". Because that kind of thinking had already once "set sailed" for that area and has sunk. We don't need to do it again.  
 
Just my opinion, I could be wrong

I am not even going to bother addressing comments when it is clear that the person hasn't even looked at the Master Plan I linked above. High water/flooding are a fact of life in Brandon. The plan has been engineered to take this into consideration.

and new to you??? Maybe do a search and you will find many news articles about the plan.  
 
It was announced in 2015 as the “Back to the River”, Brandon’s Assiniboine River Corridor Master Plan, 2015-2035.  
 
http://www.riverbank.mb.ca/about-us/assiniboine-river-corridor-master-plan/  
 
First mentioned here in 2012.  
http://ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=695987&cat_id=3  
 
https://discoverwestman.com/local/34808-riverbank-discovery-centre-continues-to-fundraise-for-festival-park

Here is a link to the complete Master Plan. It is 210 pages, but don't worry, there are lots of pictures and maps ;-)  
 
All of your concerns and doubts will be addressed by the document at this link. Please take the time to look it over before you say something patently false about the project.  
 
http://www.brandon.ca/images/pdf/planning/Brandon%20Riverbank%20Master%20Plan%20(NP-02-16-B).pdf

In thier newsletter  
http://www.riverbank.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Bdn-Riverbank-Newsletter-Spring-2016-249808.pdf  
 
About the Open House back in June 2016.  
http://www.starfm.ca/index.php?id=78&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=11362&cHash=bf52a0e645d5712b4d85f975c6b60b31  
 
Open House in 2015  
http://www.cklq.com/index.php?id=62&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9595&cHash=742b02181a185e9a6bcd0baa8bdd9ab4  
 
Open House went well  
http://www.westmanjournal.com/news/local-news/macdonald-on-riverbank-master-plan-unveiling-it-went-really-well-1.2112975  
 
Co-Op Donates $75k  
https://www.discoverwestman.com/local/co-op-donates-75k-to-riverbank-discovery-centre  
 
City of Brandon Masterplan for Greenspace  
http://www.brandon.ca/images/pdf/Recreation/GSMP/GreenspaceMP.pdf

Thread cleaned up. Less snipe, more fact-based discussion please and thank you

I live on the north hill and there was a pamphlet handed out detailing all this last year at some point. So not a huge surprise.

Thank you for all the links. The newsletter Trevor posted is a nice summary outlining what is going to be done and the timeline. There has been a lot of thought put into this project and its going to enhance much of Brandon.  
 
I understand the initial shock of learning about this project, but after reading through all the information provided feel that a good decision was made.

melsey said "Thank you for all the links. The newsletter Trevor posted is a nice summary outlining what is going to be done and the timeline. There has been a lot of thought put into this project and its going to enhance much of Brandon.     I understand the initial shock of learning about this project, but after reading through all the information provided feel that a good decision was made. "

should of been no shock since this has been in the planning for a few years now. It's been in the media, Open Houses advertised, news articles, etc..

Is that thee city was sold on the idea of the discovery center by Ducks Unlimited and can't seem to get out of this horrible deal their in.  
Flood plain is just that. Don't build on it no matter what.  
The Discovery center should be closed down and the Keystone Center, in the middle of the city, should be the hub of Brandon's activity. Ready made infrastructure, better parking lots of entrances and exits.