Summerside rejects flood plain mapping proposal after residents voice concerns

Summerside’s city council has passed a resolution against a proposed bylaw change that would have designated parts of the city as a flood plain area.

The decision was made during the council’s regular monthly meeting, which had to be moved from its usual location to Credit Union Place Monday night due to high public interest. About 80 people attended, many expressing concern about the potential bylaw change.

Mayor Dan Kutcher said the changes could have a significant impact on residents and should not be rushed.

“The concerns raised by residents and the concerns that council had themselves meant that it wasn't something they were interested in doing,” Kutcher told CBC’s Island Morning Tuesday.

Kutcher said the bylaw change would have designated certain parts of P.E.I.'s second-biggest city as flood plains or coastal overlay zones, based on data from the provincial government’s Climate Hazard and Risk Information System.

He added the bylaw was intended to fulfill a non-mandatory requirement associated with the federal Housing Accelerator Fund. If passed, it would have identified areas at risk of coastal flooding and established regulations for those zones.

“There would have been certain requirements imposed on landowners if they were to complete a certain amount of renovation for a property or to build a new property, so for them to build properties in buildings to be able to withstand a one in 100 year flood,” he said.

Kutcher said many attendees were concerned about how the bylaw might devalue their properties and affect other matters.

“The big issues that came up for people, how that would potentially impact financing, future property sales or insurance and those types of things,” he said.

“And from the city, I think that was something that was an undue burden on residents.”

After the meeting, Kutcher told CBC News that Summerside council has no plans to make any other bylaw changes related to flood plain mapping.

The city will instead rely on provincial and federal governments for this type of work, as it falls beyond the council’s expertise and did not meet the focus of the Housing Accelerator Fund.