With ice caps melting at the poles, the District of Squamish needs to build up its sea dikes, say experts.
On Tuesday (July 16), Kerr Wood Leidal engineer David Roche presented his findings on Squamish's dikes to council. Global sea levels are expected to raise one metre by 2100. Taking heed of the information, the B.C. Ministry of Environment Flood Hazard Land Use states an additional metre should be added to flood construction levels.
Faced with a development permit on Logger's Lane, officials need to move quickly if they want such projects to account for a beefed up sea dike, municipal engineer David Roulston said.
The single most important flood protection consideration in the area is the alignment of the future sea dike, the men noted. The province's dike inspector has proposed district officials explore a setback dike alignment along Logger's Lane rather than building on the existing dike structure.
The municipality needs to update its 19-year-old Flood Hazard Management Plan, Roche said. In the interim, staff suggested Roche's study be distributed to developers and used by the municipality when reviewing development proposals.
Council backed the idea and moved a motion to authorize gas tax revenue to kick-start the flood management plan update this year. Council Patricia Heintzman applauded the approach.
It allows us to do what we want to do, she said. And it still allows the development to move forward.
