Alberta alters plan to tag land titles of floodway homes

EDMONTON — Alberta’s Redford government has changed course on its plans to tag the land titles of homes in flood zones — and says homeowners who make improvements to ward off future damage won’t be singled out in the real estate documents.

While Alberta’s associate minister of regional recovery and reconstruction, Rick Fraser, said the changes show the province is willing to improve its speedily developed policies, critics accused the government of making plans on the fly and confusing homeowners.

On Friday, the province announced it had scrapped plans to put a “location notice” on land titles to identify properties in the newly dubbed flood way or flood fringes.

Homes registered under the disaster recovery program will still have a notice placed on the document stating they received cash to rebuild after the floods, however, the mark will be removed if property owners follow the mitigation steps put in place by the province.

For people living in the floodways, the notice will remain to inform any new buyers the province won’t step in with more cash in a future flood.

“We have to be adaptable. When we feel there are better ways to do things, we need to make those changes for the betterment of Albertans and the province as a whole,” Fraser said in an interview on Friday.

Fraser said future homebuyers can still check the property on the province’s flood-mapping hazard website. The government is also working with the real estate sector to develop plans to ensure new buyers know the home’s flood history, he added.

But NDP MLA Deron Bilous said the changes are causing uncertainty among Albertans and raising questions about the Redford government’s long-term plans for flood prevention.

“They’re acting in a very impulsive and reactionary manner,” he said. “Albertans want to know that leadership is going to be consistent, that they’re going to make decisions that are well thought through and not just knee-jerk reactions.”