Rare Elbow River lots in Calgary hitting the market for the first time since 2013 floods
However, Stupka says the City of Calgary is looking into updating its maps to align with the province’s new flood maps. Once that is done, the lots will be classified as flood fringe.
Flood fringe areas are parts of the floodplain where water may still reach during a major flood, but the risk is much lower. “In the flood fringe, new construction and significant additions are permitted, provided they are designed to prevent structural flood damage,” Stupka said.
According to Stupka, the province is ready to sell the properties thanks to the City’s long-term flood mitigation tactics.
“After purchasing these properties following the 2013 flood, the province held them while upstream flood mitigation was still being worked out. Now that SR1 [Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir] is operational and Calgary has achieved roughly a 70 per cent reduction in overall flood risk exposure, and Elbow River communities are now protected to a 1-in-200-year flood standard, the province is comfortable returning the land to residential use. “