TAMRMS#: B06
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Alberta Environment and Parks - Flood Mitigation Risk Assessment
Presented by: Christian Benson, Manager, Environment, Utilities & Environment Department
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RECOMMENDED MOTION
recommendation
That Council supports the application by Alberta Environment and Parks to Public Safety Canada for grant funding under the National Disaster Mitigation Program, and authorizes the Chief Administrative Officer to write a letter to Albert Environment and Parks expressing Council’s support.
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PURPOSE OF REPORT
Administration is seeking a Council motion to formally support Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) in their application to Public Safety Canada for grant funding under the National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP).
ALIGNMENT TO PRIORITIES IN COUNCIL’S STRATEGIC PLAN
Strategic Priority #1: Growth Policy Framework: Develop a robust policy framework to guide growth.
Strategic Priority #4: Infrastructure Investment: Identify and build needed capital assets.
Strategic Priority #6: Environmental Stewardship: Explore innovative environmental and conservation opportunities.
ALIGNMENT TO LEVELS OF SERVICE DELIVERY
N/A
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
NA
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Public Safety Canada recently informed the Government of Alberta that an additional round of funding for the National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP) has been made available for 2021-2022. The NDMP is a federal-provincial cost-share program intended to reduce the impacts of natural disasters on Canadians by:
• Focusing investments on significant, recurring flood risk and costs; and
• Advancing work to facilitate private residential insurance for overland flooding
There are four funding streams available under the NDMP: Risk Assessments, Flood Mapping, Mitigation Planning, and Investments in Non-structural Mitigation Projects. The Environmental Knowledge and Prediction Branch in Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) is preparing to submit an application to conduct flood risk assessments in a number of communities including St. Albert, using the CanFlood Tool developed by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) as a national standard for estimating economic loss from floods.
CanFlood enables the standardized calculation of economic flood costs for varying levels of inundation within a community. This is done using three sets of data: AEP-developed Alberta-specific inundation-damage curves, community-specific property data, and community-specific inundation area data. Using CanFlood permits comparative benefit - cost analyses of proposed flood mitigation measures to be performed within communities for which the community models have been developed. A separate flood damage assessment report describing direct and indirect damage for various flood frequencies will be done and provided to the community studied.
The City of St. Albert as been asked by AEP to express support for an application for grant funding through the NDMP for flood mitigation work. AEP considers the City as a good candidate for application of these grant funds due to the pre-existing work completed both by the province and by the City. If the application is successful, Public Safety Canada will fund 50% of the study while Alberta Environment and Parks will fund the other 50%. No funding contribution is required from St. Albert. This program would complement the work that the City is undertaking in our adverse weather resiliency project.
AEP has formally requested that the City provide a letter of support as soon as possible, since the application deadline is January 7th, 2021. Administration believes that a resolution of Council will lend greater weight to such a letter of support, and thus improve the chances of grant funds becoming available to be used for the betterment of our community.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
Information produced from the AEP flood risk assessment project may be made available to City Council, City Administration and the public.
IMPLICATIONS OF RECOMMENDATION(S)
Financial:
There is no funding required for the City of St. Albert to engage in the AEP flood risk assessment project as it would be entirely funded by Public Safety Canada and AEP.
Legal / Risk:
A flood risk assessment would be considered an input into long range plans, including the Utility Master Plan, Municipal Development Plan, Land Use Bylaw and provide valuable information about the impacts to some of our trail system within the areas. Information provided through this study would benefit the City in the ongoing risk assessment related to climate change hazards.
Program or Service:
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Organizational:
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ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED
If Council does not wish to support the recommendation, the following alternatives could be considered:
Alternative 1. Council can choose not to pass a resolution of support
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Report Date: December 21, 2020
Author: Christian Benson
Department: Utilities & Environment
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer: Kerry Hilts
Chief Administrative Officer: Kevin Scoble