Amaranth’s Percy Way Tells It Like It Is!

Report of June 28, 2013 NVCA Board Meeting
By Sandy Agnew, AWARE Simcoe News Network July 5 2013
The reason that conservation authorities exist today is that, in the 1940s, the government of Ontario realized that building in the flood plain always results in homes and businesses getting flooded and people being drowned.

In the most pointed statement this writer has heard from the NVCA Board on the reasons for controlling development in the flood plain, Percy Way of Amaranth Township told it like it is.
“This board shouldn’t be relaxing its flood plain rules,” Way told his fellow NVCA board members last week. “I come from the farming community and, yes, I realize the farming community wants us to back off and let them build in the flood plain. It’s not this board that has to answer to problems in the flood plains. We’ve had the Grand River (Conservation Authority) approve a couple of houses too close to the flood plain. In the spring of the year when the house is flooded they don’t phone the Grand River they phone the municipality and say look I have a flooded basement – and they want us to fix it. Meanwhile they’re two metres below any land around them. What do you want the municipality to do?
“Just because we’re sitting here approving the permits we need to look at what the real consequence is down the road and there’s one thing for sure, history repeats itself. 1927, my dad showed us pictures there was no wind, no snow. 1930, we had the dust bowl. 1954, we had the flood of history. 1970, I personally myself… hauled cottages from across from the glass factory on the lakeshore. The government bought property and we moved them. Today we’re building there again. All that has to happen is Georgian Bay come up ten feet, the water was almost to the glass factory in the 1970s, check it out yourself. But here we are building there again. There will be a flood plain consequence. If you don’t think it just…. look at what just happened in Calgary a couple of weeks ago. Look what happened in Toronto last week, cars on highways under water. Relax your flood plains if you want… you’re going to have consequences. And it is this board that answers to the municipalities every time. That’s the only comment I have.”
Alberta doesn’t have conservation authorities and look what happened to Calgary and High River. There are numerous houses built before the NVCA come into force in places like Wasaga Beach and Angus that are inside the regulated flood area. Climate change is bringing more severe weather more frequently. Homes and businesses inside the flood plain will be flooded, sooner or later. Who better than conservation authorities to help local municipalities prepare for these flood events and to prevent more development in flood plains? It’s what they were set up to do. Percy Way has it right!