An advocate of the Sackville River is calling for better defences following the historic floods in Nova Scotia last month.
Walter Regan wants to see the city adopt floodplain zoning for the area to help preserve the waterway and nearby land.
Regan, the former president of the Sackville Rivers Association, says the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) has been too slow to implement the findings of its 2017 Sackville Rivers Floodplain Study into new zoning rules.
The study includes mapping of areas considered at risk. Regan says it proved to be accurate during the floods stemming from the July 21st storm.
“Buy the houses, return the floodplain back to its natural setting, because the river is meant to expand — to flood over land,” he says.
“If that land has a house on it, a road, an undersized culvert, it’s not going to.”
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He says the area could serve as a model for the rest of the region.
“There are over 100 rivers in HRM,” says Regan. “They all need their own floodplain. We need the politicians to step up.”
Meanwhile, the association’s current president says the focus of the group is restoring and protecting the river.
Ann Angelidis says for the municipality, the next steps will be challenging when taking into consideration the environment and the people living in the area.
She says any work to remove the many buildings on the floodplain might not be possible.
“I don’t think HRM could take on that task,” explains Ann Angelidis. “It’s too huge and it’s not necessarily the only way to do it. But, identifying the floodplain, I think, is certainly important for future developments.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the city says they have not yet amended any municipal planning strategies or land-use bylaws.
“The municipality is in the process of assessing what can be done to help with flood mitigation, including investigating potential funding sources and researching flood preparedness,” says Laura Wright.
But the councillor for Lower Sackville says updating those bylaws won’t be easy.
“It’s more difficult to do this than to confirm a house, to put together a development agreement, to confirm an apartment building,” says Paul Russell. “So we need one of our senior planners to take care of it.”
But Russell says HRM does not currently have enough senior planners to add such a big undertaking to their workload.
For now, the priority remains reopening roads and the trail that winds along the river.
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