Advice on dealing w/bylaw enforcement-water drainage issues

[Ryan Coke]

Figured I'd tap into the collective Cpuck knowledge base for my issue.

Short version of the story: We have a concrete drainage 'swale' in our backyard, along with the drain itself. Often when it rains I get other peoples mulch, grass clippings, decking boards, and plastic bags flowing into our our yard, eventually plugging the drain grate which then leads to some flooding. I keep it as clean as I can, and have often been out there in the middle of the rain to clear the drain grate. After a recent rainstorm which flushed a bunch of mulch from a neighbour's yard causing the drain to plug, apparently someone decided to call bylaw enforcement on me.

The letter I get instructs me to clean my section of swale (fair enough, I do it regularly anyhow), remove the eave drainage tubing outside of 1 meter of swale (I have it draining directly in, doesn't have any effect on the debris clogging), and finally to remove any 'retaining walls' within 1 meter of swale. I have some timber edging less than 1 foot high on some plant beds in order to keep mulch/dirt from getting washed into the swale; removing them would make the situation worse. Not to mention it would mean doing serious damage to several years of work I have put in to get a nice yard (it would likely involve replanting or destroying several plants/trees).

I had a professional landscape plan done up with specific requests to consider good drainage, same request to the landscaper who completed it. I am happy to do what I reasonably can (short of hiring a 24/7 person to watch the drain), but the thought of destroying much of the landscaping for something that will do nothing to alleviate the problem is sickening.

Any experiences or suggestions would be appreciated.

[onetwo_threefour]

Good luck...

In my experience the City is pretty much zero tolerance on this stuff if a complaint has been made and the Easement and/or Restrictive Covenants are generally pretty black and white about not putting any improvements within the drainage right-of-way.

I'd say that you should try calling the by-law officer that is responsible for the letter you got and see if you can try to get him to visit your property to discuss the situation with you. At the end of the day though, you may just have to remove or relocate your planters and deal with the consequences.

[Swarly]

put chain-link fencing or some other type of 'filter' where the drain enters your yard, now the mulch and clogging/flooding is your neighbors problem

[burn_this_city]

I'd try and block the debris from entering your yard. You could use chicken wire or something to keep it out.

[Rathji]

This is from my experience running a landscaping company, and fixing a few of these jobs where people had to change their yard. It has been a while so I might be foggy on some of the details so check online (or call 311) to clarify. Now that you are on by-law enforcements radar, it really doesn't matter if the swale clogs or not, you have violations.

You cannot directly drain any water from your property onto city, or a neighbour's property. I think you are getting off easy with them letting you keep your weeping tile where it is, and just making you remove a meter.

You cannot build (and maybe even plant) anything, including changing the grade within a utility right of way. I am fairly sure that your swale has such a right of way but you could check with your RPR to make sure, as it will be clearly labelled.

We had one couple in Springbank where we had to move their Allen Block retaining wall back a meter or they would face a huge fine, because the developer was claiming it was wrecking the fence and the sandstone retaining wall that ran along the back of the property. The landscaper that did it figured the rules didn't apply and that he wouldn't have to face the consequences if they ever did apply.

Just because it was put in by a 'professional' doesn't mean it was done properly, especially in the landscaping business. One of the things that ended up pushing me out of the landscaping business was the fact that anyone with a pickup truck a a wheelbarrow could bid a job really cheap, not having any idea how to do things properly, and telling the customer they could have whatever they wanted, even if it would cause problems like this in the future.

[Ryan Coke]

Thanks for the info all. I'll call the bylaw people on Monday and start working on some kind of resolution.