Expert panel to direct flood prevention
Calgary has announced an advisory panel on flood mitigation, two days after the Redford government did roughly the same thing.
Wolf Keller, the recently retired city water resources director, will head the city panel to help identify preventive upgrades to guard against the next big disaster.
The province’s panel to consider “the latest flood prevention technology from around the world” includes a retired Calgary oil executive from flood-battered Elbow Park, a civil engineering executive and a prominent architect.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who normally decries overlapping government services, said it makes sense in this case to do local work when the province is thinking more broadly.
“If we can take on some of that load with local experts who really understand what’s happening at the city, I think that’s good for all concerned,” the mayor told reporters Monday.
The city hasn’t yet added more than one member to this panel, but will seek non-expert citizen panellists, Nenshi said. The panel, still in its infancy, will offer recommendations in the “coming months,” a news release said.
Similarly, the Redford government offered little detail on the process and timeline for its advisory panel.
Meanwhile, the city is also promising community meetings next week to begin explaining to residents how they should rebuild, based on the provincial government’s new floodarea development policies.
Gordon Stewart, the city’s recovery director, said the province has been giving clearer signals about what the new rules will mean for some flood-battered communities that do and do not have existing flood protections.