This release was issued under a previous government.
Community members will have the opportunity to meet with the minister and mayor directly in January to help determine the short-term use of the properties sold to the province as part of the Floodway Relocation Program.
The province has evaluated its options and determined that removing the 17 floodway homes is the best solution:
- Most of these homes sustained significant flood damage, and a lack of timely remediation work has contributed further to their state of disrepair.
- It would be irresponsible to expose any new residents to the risk of flooding by returning these properties to residential use prior to mitigation coming into effect. Government lawyers have also advised that this would pose a significant liability risk to taxpayers.
“Decisions by the previous government have left Elbow Park with a patchwork of vacant homes and few satisfactory answers about what will be done to protect the quality of life in these neighbourhoods. We are committed to working closely with residents to make the best of this challenging situation and take another step towards recovery in Elbow Park.”
In addition to the January meeting hosted by Minister Larivee, Mayor Nenshi, and local city councillors, residents are also invited to provide written feedback by emailing [email protected]
“In my many conversations with residents of these communities, the desire to move forward with these properties – sooner rather than later – has been consistent. Now that the provincial government has decided to demolish the homes, I am pleased they have also committed to consult with the City and residents about the future of these properties.”
Once flood mitigation on the Elbow River is complete, it may be possible to rebuild in some of these areas that are currently vulnerable to flooding.