Both the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) and District of Sechelt heard concerns at committee meetings this week from property owners impacted by the Davis Bay flood last month.
At Monday's SCRD transportation advisory committee meeting, one of the flooded residents made suggestions and asked questions about transportation safety and emergency responsibilities. Maggie Guzzi was seeking answers as to who has jurisdictional authority during emergencies along that stretch of highway, co-ordination procedures amongst authorities, response time improvements, impact of the seawall on flooding, traffic safety at the curve near the Chapman Creek bridge and whether a bypass is planned for the waterfront. Since not all the authorities were at the meeting to answer all the questions, the committee decided to refer the questions to SCRD staff and to the appropriate organizations, then send a letter to Guzzi and her neighbours responding to the questions.
Guzzi also told the committee that on the morning of the Feb. 4 flood, she directed traffic in front of her house until authorities arrived. She noted she has directed traffic there before after traffic accidents and asked that the speed limit be reduced to 30 km/hour from the Chapman bridge to Pier 17.
Committee member Sunshine Coast RCMP Const. Kurt Rosenberg responded, "I can tell you from speed enforcement, speed is not a problem on that corner."
He said he can provide accident statistics and again said accidents along that stretch are generally not speed related. Guzzi again stressed that, based on her observations, speed is a problem there for pedestrians trying to cross the road.
In a separate meeting Tuesday, the District of Sechelt parks and public works committee reviewed a letter from Davis Bay property owner Wendy Gilbertson requesting the District of Sechelt make some changes to the way emergency responses are handled.
Emergency Program co-ordinator Bill Elsner was on hand to present his interpretation of the events that occurred during the storm and to answer questions.
Elsner said the residents in the flooded area must take some responsibility for what happened as no one called 911 in a timely fashion. Two families called the District of Sechelt and one called the SCRD when calls should have gone into 911.
Mayor Cam Reid suggested that concrete barriers be used during high tide season and Elsner said the problem with that would be where to stop placing barriers. He also pointed out that once water crashes over the barrier it is then trapped and can not return to the ocean. Elsner is ordering an additional 20,000 sand bags but said he would not risk the life of a person in severe storm conditions to protect property and it was only property that needed protection during the Davis Bay flood. He added that he believed the homeowners should be encouraged to raise the foundations of their homes and not use crawl spaces for storage.
"The ocean was there before they bought their homes and moved there. They should be monitoring the weather and tides themselves," Elsner said.- With files from Karen Ardy
