Mixed reactions following changes to Halifax-area flood plain building restrictions

No new homes or apartments will be built in flood-prone areas in Halifax.

Several Halifax-area communities immediately next to the flood-prone Sackville River will have no more new homes or apartments built on them following a move by Halifax Regional Council.

David Oxford, who lives along the Sackville River, is still haunted by memories of the 2023 flood.

“Inside a half-hour, I went from almost no water on the property to water that was probably 25-to-30 inches up the side of my property,” he said.

Oxford and his wife were displaced for five months following the food, and they have since put around $100,000 into repairs – around 70 per cent of the cost being covered through federal funding.

“I told my wife, ‘This is a flood that’s going to basically take the house,’” said Oxford.

Council updated the Municipal Planning Strategies Land Use By-laws for Beaver Bank, Hammonds Plains, Bedford, and parts of Sackville, expanding the restricted building areas in the floodplain.

The change means no future residential development will be allowed within the one-in-20-year floodplain, which has a five per cent chance of flooding any given year.

“They should do what they can to minimize it from happening again, especially with new construction or new development,” said Oxford.

While residential development will be restricted, non-residential buildings will still be allowed in that zone.

In the one-in-100-year flood zone, residential development will be allowed as long as elevation requirements are met, which would allow water to flow through.

The new rules have received some mixed reactions so far.

“I have real concerns with the by-law and its impacts on myself, my family, my neighbours... and not just in a not in my backyard, knee-jerk reaction,” said one Lucasville resident during a public hearing at City Hall on Tuesday.

A spokesperson with the Sackville Rivers Association told CTV News Atlantic on Thursday the expansion of the flood mapping is “long overdue” and has been in the works for decades.

Municipal staff recommended floodplain mapping be updated every decade, or sooner if required.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page