WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?

The article by Francis Campbell in regards to the recent flooding events due to the recent storm in the Bedford area is a little too late. Coun. Tim Outhit (BedfordWentworth) states that it’s time to get those homeowners out of that area.

Well, that may be true, but the real issue is that building permits granted by the local building authority should never have been issued in the first place in an area of a floodplain. And this is not the only area where this has happened.

Truro, for example, has an almost annual situation of flooding when the Salmon River floods in the spring run-off and the taxpayers are on the hook to help these building owners recover.

There is enough knowledge about floodplains and the drastic effects of Mother Nature when the water rises. The simple solution is not to issue a building permit in a floodplain. The responsibility for this action lies with the municipal unit that issues these permits.

The results of which are that the taxpayer pays for the mistakes of the municipal unit issuing these building permits. Calgary had a similar situation a many years ago when the Bow River flooded its banks and the city responded with no further building permits issued in the Bow River floodplain.

So Outhit is absolutely correct. It is time to have these homeowners moved to an area that does not flood.

Unfortunately, it will be the taxpayer that pays for the mistakes of the building officials that issued the building permits in the first place.

Don Lohnes, Clayton Park