Dear editor:

The Four Mile Creek drainage area runs from about Mountain Road in Niagara Falls in the south to Lake Ontario in the north, between Concession 3 and 7.

It is the stormwater drainage outlet for St. Davids and Virgil, and also is the outlet for the Lavigne, Cole, Bright and Four Mile Creek municipal drains. It empties into Lake Ontario across Lakeshore Road, near Strewn Winery.

Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa’s quote in The Lake Report on July 11 that over-development is not a contributing factor to the increased flooding of Four Mile Creek shows he is not familiar with the situation, nor with OPS-21-012, the April 2021 report by Brett Ruck, who was the town’s irrigation and drainage superintendent at the time.

The report was also signed by then-director of operations Sheldon Randall and chief administrator Marnie Cluckie.

This is the report referred to in Brian Marshall’s column in the July 18 edition of The Lake Report about infrastructure and stormwater management.

All residents of the Four Mile Creek drainage area should read the report.

The flooding of Four Mile Creek is not new. It has just continued to get worse with the new developments in St. Davids, approved by town council and the planning department.

All development in St. Davids should have been put on hold until the recommendations in Ruck’s report had been completed.

This is not responsible management of our town.

A copy of Ruck’s report to can be found by simply Googling OPS-21-012.

Kip Voege
NOTL