Just over two years ago, residents living in Cougar Creek saw what is normally a dry creekbed swell with water and debris, threatening the entire subdivision and significantly damaging nearby properties.
It was a natural disaster that forever changed the community and, while the people of Canmore were resilient and rallied together, the long-term repercussions of the flood were only beginning to unfold.
With the proposed municipal development plan out for public feedback, it is not surprising given the gravity of the flood that the document seeks to address what has been learned so far about steep creeks within its pages.
Development planner Tracey Woitenko said the 1998 MDP did not contemplate steep creeks when it provided direction for hazards and development constraints, but after the 2013 flood, the new plan is proposing a development hold zone for Cougar Creek.
Woitenko said the municipality does not want to allow development into high risk areas and the MDP reflects that.
“We have the mountain creek risk and hazard mitigation program under the engineering department and they have been working to understand the hazard and now we are working to mitigate the hazards,” she said.
“A part of that mitigation is not just active mitigation such as building structures or reinforcing the creek banks. Part of that is also through land use planning and determining what goes where in a hazard area and how we allow growth to happen. We have a very large population on Cougar Creek and, based on the risk assessment done, the societal risk or group risk is in an unacceptable range.
“Based on that high level of risk, the Town has put forward a proposal that we are not willing to put more people and additional development into that area, which is already at too high a risk.”
The development hold zone map in the proposed MDP closely resembles the hazard map created by the municipality with the help of BDC – the consultant experienced in steep creek issues brought on board after the flood to help understand what happened and what could happen in the future.
While it is a development hold zone, Woitenko said homeowners are still able to add onto their homes with decks, additions or sheds, for example. If a home were to burn down, she said, it could be rebuilt with the same structure. What would not be allowed, she said, are secondary suite developments, additional density with new proposals, or building on vacant lots.
Woitenko acknowledged owners of currently vacant lots would be significantly affected by the change if approved, “but what we are trying to prohibit, really, is increasing the amount of development.”
But with a major mitigation project planned for Cougar Creek in the form of a $39 million debris retention structure, once it is in place the risk level will be recalculated she said.
But the MDP does not contain provisions for what happens after risk is lowered and Woitenko said when that occurs administration will bring the MDP back to council and replace the development hold zone with a post-mitigation zone.
“We are hearing some concerns from the community,” she said. “Many people who experienced the 2013 flood understand the reasoning and rationale behind the policy, but there are some people who are very concerned.”
Concerns range from those who own vacant property to those concerned with the return period being used by Canmore to calculate the hazard. Administration is using a one in 3,000 year return period, which Woitenko acknowledged is “quite a high standard.”
Another concern is the level of risk tolerance deemed acceptable in creating the development hold zone. For new development, the risk tolerance is one in 10,000 (the same level of risk for dying in a house fire) and for existing development it is one in 100,000 (the same level of risk of dying in a car accident).
“We are listening to all concerns and we want to hear about them,” Woitenko said.
There is still time to provide feedback on the draft MDP and an online survey is available online. Go to www.canmore.ca/mdp/ for more information.
