HUDSON PUTS FREEZE ON FLOOD ZONE BUILDING
Bylaw to take effect early next year would be the first of its kind in Quebec
Last spring, thousands of homes in Quebec were flooded as water rose to levels not seen since the mid-1970s. Now that the water has receded, it’s tempting to see the flood as a destructive but rare event. But what if it’s not? That “what if” has led Hudson’s town council to propose a precedent-setting bylaw intended to reduce the risk of future flood damage by forbidding new construction within the known 100-year flood zone. Mayor Jamie Nicholls, elected to council Nov. 5, said the spirit of Hudson bylaw is to use the “precautionary principle” to manage risk, which recognizes that the town has a duty to take action to prevent harm, even if the risk isn’t definitively known. He said he believes the bylaw is expected to take effect early next year and would be the first of its kind in Quebec. While he said only a half-dozen property owners would be directly affected by the bylaw, some of the affected properties are in areas slated for development. By preventing new development within the known flood zone, Nicholls said the town hopes to limit damage caused by future flooding. “It’s not a best practice to build within a floodplain. it has that name for a reason. It does flood eventually,” Nicholls said. “Whether it happens next year, two years, five years from now, people still shouldn’t be building homes in places that are going to flood.” Although the bylaw isn’t formally in place yet, Nicholls said there is an immediate freeze on construction within the flood zone while staff and council work out the details. Nicholls said the bylaw will recognize the acquired rights of those who already have homes or other structures built within the flood zone. A public consultation will be held in early 2018 to ensure owners of affected properties will have a chance to ask questions and express any concerns. Although it is near the waterfront, Nicholls said a 300-unit development proposed for the area known to locals as Sandy Beach is not likely to be affected, because of an existing clause in the infrastructure agreement which stated that the developer agreed to not build within the 100-year flood zone. Both the Canadian government and the province of Quebec have officially accepted the scientific consensus that climate change is real and will bring increasingly extreme weather, including a greater risk of fires, floods, destructive winds, ice storms and more. But it’s the actions taken by our local governments that will have the biggest impact on how well we weather the storm. What does all this have to do with real estate? Quite a lot, actually. It pays for property owners to pay attention to what local governments are — and aren’t — doing to mitigate risks related to climate change. For most of us, our home is our biggest investment. it’s in everyone’s interest to find out what the local impacts of climate change are likely to be, and do everything possible to minimize harm from the risks we know. Many dangers are unforeseen. Flooding in a flood zone isn’t one of them.