21 December 2010

City Receives Flood Warning

Salmon Arm British Columbia - Levels of concern about flooding in and around the SmartCentres property are rising.
 
A Salmon Arm professional engineer has written to city council, concerned that inadequate consideration has been given to flood hazard and risk now that the designated use of the land has been changed to accommodate SmartCentres.
 
Although the rezonings and official community plan amendment to accommodate a shopping centre had already gone to public hearing and received third reading from council when he wrote his 9 Nov 2010 letter, Calvin VanBuskirk of Terratech Consulting Ltd. said he had, until recently, assumed the city had received information on flooding, flood risk, and flood management of the river.
 
"I did speak about my concerns at the public hearing, but when I had time to read further into the Riparian Areas Regulation reports and studies by the developer, it became apparent the flood risk and hazard hadn't been addressed in documentation," he said.
 
He brought up the issue because of his professional engineer association's code of ethics, he said, whose number-one goal is protecting the public and the environment.
 
"It's an acknowledgement on my part, of the public and environmental issues that should be addressed. Better to do it now than have a multi-million dollar development sitting on land that is possibly causing problems for the neighbours."
 
The sorts of questions he would like to see addressed would include:  are flood waters going to change the behaviour of flood levels to adjacent land, how might structures such as the CP Rail bridge be affected, would the waters end up flowing to the east or towards the current sewage outfall?
 
"How would that affect fish movement, a whole litany of other things, that's what flood risk is, understanding those things."
 
Canadian Pacific Railway is also worried about flooding, and refers to potential city liability if the development influences the flood flow under its two bridges downstream.
 
In a letter to the city dated 15 Dec 2010, Chris Bunce of CPR requests that the city either retain directly or require that the proponent retain the services of a recognized consulting engineer to assess the changes in flood risk introduced by the existing and proposed fill and development on the SmartCentres property.
 
The letter states that "the existing fill and the proposed fill are within the jurisdiction of the City of Salmon Arm and therefore CPR relies on the city to ensure that adequate safety considerations are preserved as per the Railway Safety Act of Canada..."
 
It goes on to state that if a hydrotechnical expert addresses CPR's concerns, then, depending on their findings and the city's response, that will either a) reduce the liability of SmartCentres and the city, should damage arise, or b) require that work be undertaken to protect all parties exposed to changes in flood conditions.
 
"Both of these outcomes are preferable to not having an appropriate expert assess the existing conditions and proposed changes," Bunce wrote.
 
Neskonlith Chief Judy Wilson reiterated her concerns about flooding after city council passed final reading Monday of the associated bylaws regarding the SmartCentres development.
 
"The decision city council made today carries substantial risk, not only for Neskonlith but for the City of Salmon Arm and its citizens. The question is, who will pay?" she asked, adding that, like CPR, the Neskonlith will hold the city liable.
 
In January 2004, the provincial government downloaded responsibility for flood plain management to local governments.
 
Meanwhile, VanBuskirk said he was told by city staff that the city looks at minimum floor elevation pertaining to flood risk.
 
VanBuskirk said that doesn't address flood risk.
 
"If measures to protect that development put other developments at risk, there's no consideration of that."
 
He said a flood hazard assessment should be done on the whole delta to determine what development could co-exist within the dynamics of the delta.
 
"But you don't do it the other way and then try to figure out what problems have been created, the rest of the world has already done that."
 
Nathan Hildebrand of SmartCentres says no more fill will be added to the site, work there will include moving soil and clearing trees.