Calgary’s Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he’s upset that he wasn’t consulted on the province’s new flood plan development policy before it was announced earlier this week.
He is calling for a meeting with the Ministers of Municipal Affairs and Environment to discuss the issue and come up with some ideas that will work for the city.
Doug Griffiths said earlier in the week that the new flood plan will encourage people to move away from zones at risk of flooding and set high protection standards for areas less at risk.
He said that the province can’t allow people to reside in areas that continually flood and have the government pick up the cost of repairs when something happens.
The government says it will introduce legislation this fall to forbid municipalities from approving new developments in floodways, and it says anyone whose property is in a floodway will have it noted on their land title.
"We want to give Albertans with flood-damaged homes the information they need to make choices to get their lives back on track," Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths said in a news release.
"We also want to ensure we're spending responsibly and doing everything we can to prevent flood damage like this from happening again."
The province says land that's made available by Albertans moving out of flood risk areas would be used for municipal flood mitigation infrastructure or for recreational use such as picnic areas, parks, cycling and hiking paths.
According to the province, the flood policy is similar to the current policies of federal flood assistance programs, as well as Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
