The Thompson Nicola Regional District is pleased with results so far after enabling people with property damaged by flooding to do their own repairs.

Director of community services Ron Storie says the TNRD had an environmental professional draw up a flood mitigation plan with people in Cherry Creek.

“The sad part is – the folks at Cherry Creek know this better than most people because their houses were affected in the 2017 and 2018 flooding – again, they saw the creek rise from this little tiny thing, I don’t think it ever gets wider than a foot or two, to something that was raging in their backyards.”

He says the work was approved by the province and done by residents, and he says the process has cut down red tape. The six property owners got a blanket permit in 45 days, instead of the usual process where they apply on their own and wait 180 days for a permit.

“It was a very new process, I believe it might’ve been the first of its kind in the province. I think it happened because people were trying to think outside the box to help other people. I also want to point out too, that FLNRO was very instrumental in saying that if you get caught working in the stream without a prescription or a plan – doing your own thing – there’s a $100,000-dollar fine,” Storie says.

“If you look at the whole natural end to the thing – from a biological point of view – getting trees planted, getting people educated on what they can do on their own property, I think that’s worth its weight in gold. The feedback anecdotally that I’ve heard from residents, it’s been a success that way.”

Storie says the repairs were covered through taxation in Area J, and have cost between $40,000 and $50,000.

(Photo: TNRD)