By Tyler Marr

Concerns flow over flood plain plans

Aug 31, 2017 | 1:27 PM

 Affordable housing developers are worried about the trickle-down-effects of the province’s flood plain plans.

The province is imposing city’s to enact numerous new building standards to address its new one-in-500 flood plain regulations. The heightened standards have affordable housing developers worried the additional costs could impact their ability to develop in core neighbourhoods.

“This will have a really significant impact on the West and East Flat,” Brian Howell, manager of the River Bank Development Corporation said during a press conference Thursday. 

“The cost of building to meet flood standards in terms of reinforcing, in terms of concrete basements, in terms of not being able to use living space below the flood line is so high that we may have to move and work in different neighbourhoods.”

Developments in these neighbourhoods are preferred, as land prices in the West and East Flats are lower. P.A. Community Housing and Northern Spruce Housing share in these concerns, more so as they operate as nonprofits and rely on funding to help keep mortgage payments low.

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According to numbers provided by Howell, over 2,000 properties would be affected by the one-in-500-year flood plain regulations. The rules would impact nearly 205 current properties and increase costs for numerous future developments.

Howell estimated the additional regulations could add anywhere from $25,000 to $30,000 to the cost of a unit. Further, he feared the standards could contribute to the deterioration of homes in the neighbourhoods as affordable housing developers have been instrumental in maintaining and redeveloping these communities.

Howell believed involving the community in the talks will help develop keener policy so if the one-in-500-year flood plain is implemented by the city, it is “done in such a way that we can afford to work in these communities and home owners can afford to rebuild.”

Alongside relaxing some of the regulations, the groups would also like someone to revisit the rationale behind the plans. 

“The science around the flood plain is older. Most of the work was done in the 1980s,” Howell said.

He understood the new standards heavily surround public safety and said anyone “who is not worried about climate change and its impact…is sort of living in a cloud,” but wanted a revisitation as flood projections have perhaps changed and recent work up stream needed to be taken into account. 

“We don’t speak for the entire East and West Flat,” Howell said. “We are just presenting ourselves as affordable homeownership providers and we are hoping to get others to think about it and to become involved and have an impact on the decisions that are being made.”

He pointed to neighbouring provinces like Manitoba and Alberta who have had large flooding disasters in recent years, yet only mandate one-in-100-year flood plain planning. He said recent large rain events in Saskatchewan have flooded highways but not drastically impacted the river’s flow.

If the science proved building standards were needed, Howell said the organizations are more than willing to adapt, but noted it would impact affordable housing developments in the city.

A public update meeting on the planned regulation amendments is to be held Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Riverside School gymnasium.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter; @JournoMarr