Flooding on Kenilworth Avenue has resident frustrated with city’s response

By MATTHEW STEPHENS

For years, Beach residents have reported dealing with street and basement flooding resulting from excessive storm drain buildup and a lack of city maintenance to address underlying systemic and infrastructural issues.

For some Kenilworth Avenue residents, the situation on the part of their street just north of Queen Street East has led them to taking up rakes and digging out leaves and debris from the street’s storm drains themselves.

“We’ve lived here for almost three years now, and I’ve heard from my neighbours that they’ve had flooding issues before,” one resident (who requested Beach Metro Community News not use his name) said in a recent interview.

“Since we moved here, there hasn’t been much street cleaning going on. Last year was the first major issue, where me and my neighbour had to be out in the street at midnight raking the leaves and other debris out of the storm drain so that it would collect the water.”

According to the resident, the drains on Kenilworth Avenue have been collecting leaves and debris for the last two years and now resemble something that looks “more like soil, compost, or sludge.”

“Another time, my neighbour and I were out there clearing out the three drains that are in front of our houses just to keep the water and debris from going over the sidewalk,” said the resident.

In addition to handling the issue themselves, the resident said there have also been instances where emergency services had been called to block off Kenilworth and address street flooding caused by clogged storm drains.

“Even the firefighters came by one time to clear the drains in the area, and the police came by to stop traffic from going down the street,” said the resident.

The resident said his breaking point came during a heavy rainfall in late March, when pools of flooded water reached the height of the sidewalk.

“I got fed up this year, when on March 31, there was some big rain fall picking up on the lower part of the street closer to Queen (Street East). The water was above the sidewalk, and for some of the cars, the water was up to their doors,” said the resident.

After filing several reports to 311 Toronto (the city’s non-emergency services) he said his case file has been opened and closed multiple times, prompting him to take further action and file a complaint with Beaches-East York Councillor Brad Bradford.

“Since this has started happening, I’ve been in contact with Toronto 311. The report gets filed, and then like a week later it gets closed and it says it’s been resolved,” said the resident. “But nothing actually gets resolved. And then I follow up on it, try to get more information – they put some notes on file, reopen it with the new notes, and then the same thing happens again.”

The resident said he did receive a response from Bradford’s office, but so far the issue has not been resolved.

In an email to Beach Metro Community News, Bradford said residents in the city are not being provided the road-maintenance services they deserve, and that city staff should be “dispatched for manual clearing” on roads where parked vehicles obstruct street sweepers.

“Too many residents in Toronto feel that they’re paying more and getting less. Road maintenance like street sweeping and snow clearing is one of the core services that local governments provide,” said Bradford’s statement. “If parked cars are preventing street sweeping vehicles from getting the job done, then staff should be dispatched for manual clearing to address build-up issues that could cause floods.”

The resident said he has been working his way up the chain of city departments and officials, and his request for help with flooding has since included Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Transportation Services, and the office of Mayor Olivia Chow.

In a statement to Beach Metro Community News, Director of Transportation Operations and Maintenance Becky Katz said street sweepers have visited Kenilworth twice this year, and that cleanup crews “make every effort” to ensure the job is done efficiently.

“Local streets such as Kenilworth Avenue are swept three times per year: during the spring, summer, and fall maintenance cycles,” said Katz. “So far this year, Kenilworth Avenue has been swept twice. Staff make every effort to sweep the full width of the street from curb to curb.”

She also said that Transportation Services conducted a site inspection, which confirmed “service requests were addressed in a timely manner” and that the street was found to “meet service level outcomes.”

However, with the resident still unsatisfied with the city’s work, and the mayor’s office telling him to seek assistance “through your councillor’s office,” the resident said he felt he was running in circles for a solution.

“I don’t mean to sound desperate, but turning to the media is kind of my last resort,” said the resident.

In one response to the resident’s inquiry from mid April, a member of the Mayor’s Office said several neighbourhoods across the city were dealing with excessive debris due to “heavy winter and inclement early spring,” and that a number of streets in Beaches-East York had been “prioritized” for cleanup.

However, the resident argued that a lack of street cleaning has been “a neighbourhood-wide issue,” not isolated to this particular year.

And with parked cars covering much of the debris, the resident said streetsweepers were unable to properly clean Kenilworth when they visited back in April, highlighting a lack of cohesion between residents, city staff, and cleanup crews.

“A street sweeper made a couple of passes on our street today. However, because of parked cars, it could not clean the northbound side properly, leaving behind the sludge,” read an email from the resident to Chow and Bradford’s offices.

Katz said that city crews clear the debris around parked cars manually if they interfere with street sweeper operations.

“Where vehicles are parked, crews sweep around them. If significant debris remains adjacent to parked vehicles, staff manually clean the affected area where feasible,” said Katz.

When asked about a possible solution to the issue, the resident suggested the city implement a “no-parking” mandate at specific times so street sweepers can properly clear debris covering storm drains on Kenilworth and other streets in the Beach.

“I included the Parks and Forestry Department in the email chain, because I’ve noticed when they do street tree pruning, they put up signs to restrict parking on one side of the street. I think that would help,” said the resident.

Although “parking restrictions for street sweeping are not being explored,” Katz said residents are encouraged to report any additional maintenance concerns through 311.

“While it is not possible to guarantee that this issue will never happen again, staff remain committed to continuous improvement, monitoring service delivery, and adjusting where appropriate to enhance the effectiveness of the street sweeping program,” said Katz.