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lines (under Development Permit Areas 1, 2, 3) ad-
dress the required best practices in managing natural
hazards that are specific to a particular landform (e.g.
excessive slopes), natural feature (e.g. watercourses)
or location (e.g. hillsides).
In the social context, public safety concerns crime and
security. It has a direct impact on our daily life and
the livability of a neighbourhood or community. Our
city has rendered public safety a high priority and has
already launched a number of initiatives. This section
highlights those initiatives and the direction that the
City has taken.
Floodplain Management
Except for the hillsides and Sardis-Vedder area, Chil-
liwack is situated on floodplains. It shares with oth-
er Lower Mainland communities the flood risk posed
by the Fraser River; the Chilliwack/Vedder River also
presents a flood risk to portions of the community.
Major flood events in 1894, 1948 (Fraser River) and
1975 (Vedder River) have driven the City’s dyke build-
ing programs and flood protection policies. Presently,
the City is protected by a robust dyking system along
the Fraser River and the Vedder River, and preventive
measures such as floodproofing all new constructions
(building at preset “construction levels”). In the fu-
ture the City will continue to focus on strengthening
its dyking systems with future climatic and hydrolog-
ical changes, and floodproofing new constructions.
It will also work with senior governments to manage
the river channel capacity proactively, including stra-
tegic gravel removal and funding for river bank and
dyke reinforcement.
OBJECTIVES
1. Minimize flood risks and potential flood im-
pact.
2. Increase the community flood protection ca-
pacity and resiliency to meet current provin-
cial standards.
POLICIES
1. Maintain a robust flood protection program
that comprises structural (dykes and flood-
proofing of buildings) and non-structural
(flood response planning) components,
subject to provincial and federal funding
assistance.
2. In floodplain and alluvial fan areas (Map 7),
mandate all new constructions to meet the
floodproofing standards of the City’s Flood-
plain Regulation Bylaw.
3. Discourage development in unprotected
floodplain areas.
4. Require hydro-technical assessments that
comply with the City’s Geotechnical and
Floodplain Report Guidelines and APEGBC
guidelines, for all proposed developments in
unprotected floodplains on the valley floor,
hillside areas subject to local flood risks, and
alluvial fans.
5. Ensure that the flood management policies
be updated from time to time to address ob-
served/forecast changes to the climate and
hydrology.
6. Pursue long term agreements with senior gov-
ernments on strategic gravel extraction from
the Fraser and Vedder Rivers as part of a com-
prehensive flood management plan for the
City and the Fraser Valley region.
Community Safety and Security
In the OCP context, community safety and security
actions will focus on community initiatives to increase
neighbourhood watch and engagement, as well as
site planning practices for improved street monitor-
ing and emergency response. Community partner-
ship, business cooperation and innovative policing
are part of the solution to public safety and security
issues.
OBJECTIVES
1. Provide effective police, fire protection, res-
cue and emergency services to all areas of
the City.
Goal 5 - Build Healthy Attractive Communities