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District seeks public input in flood management

20-year-old plan needs overhaul, say officials
File photo The District of Squamish wants residents' input on its flood management plan, which includes infrastructure such as dikes.

District of Squamish officials want residents’ input into how the municipality protects the community from flood risks.

On Thursday, Oct. 23, the district is holding an open house on progress staff have made toward updating the community’s 20-year-old flood hazard management plan. The event will provide information on flood risks in Squamish. Municipal staff also want the public’s feedback on long-term coastal flood protection options to fend off the anticipated rise of the sea level.

Provincial officials recently added a requirement for oceanfront communities, such as Squamish, to mitigate the chances of flooding from rising sea levels expected to occur between now and the year 2100. Most of downtown Squamish has a water table only one or two metres below street level, according to district staff.

By 2015, DOS officials will have spent some $6 million as their one-third share of the $18 million worth of flood-hazard-management work done along Squamish's waterways since the 2003 flood. That includes upgrading the dike upstream from Judd Slough in Brackendale as well as the Mamquam/Squamish River dikes near North Yards.

The Integrated Flood Hazard Management Plan (IFHMP) project will examine new modeling techniques and will respond to provincial legislation that’s been introduced since 1994, district spokesperson Christina Moore stated in a press release.

“Public involvement is an important element in the IFHMP as a majority of neighbourhoods in the district are subject to various coastal and river hazards,” she wrote. “Flood risks can be managed in a variety of different manners, each with different transportation, environmental and financial impacts.”

The open house will be held at the Squamish Adventure centre from 5 to 8 p.m.

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