Penticton’s mayor and council voted on Friday to submit an application for grant funding to the tune of $3.8 million for badly needed flood mitigation work along Penticton Creek.
The infrastructure surrounding the creek, which runs through a portion of the city and several residential neighbourhoods, is aging and there are some areas at higher risk of breaching.
A special council meeting heard that Penticton Creek was modified significantly in the late 1940s and 1950s to protect the city from flooding.
The flood protection work at the time included the elimination of floodplains and the creation of a single channel.
In 2017, the city developed a master plan for Penticton Creek, and identified a list of priority projects, including a risk rating for flood mitigation based on potential failures.
There are two areas of Penticton Creek that rate high in terms of requiring flood mitigation work, with one of them requiring emergency action prior to the 2021 freshet, council heard.
One section is between Van Horne and Norton St., and the other involves two structures near Government St.
The mayor and council voted to ask the federal and provincial governments for the funding after they opened a joint grant intake for Adaption Resilience and Disaster Mitigation projects.
The intent of the grant program is to cover work on any public infrastructure asset where the purpose of the project is to build, modify and/or reinforce to prevent, mitigate or protect against floods, a staff report said.
Eligible projects must begin construction before September 30, 2021 and must be completed by December 31, 2021.
The cost-sharing would be up to 80 per cent federal funds and 20 per cent provincial funds.
The cost of Penticton’s project is $3.8 million.
The South Okanagan region is prone to flooding and saw devastating floods in 2017 and 2018.
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