Dorval says it’s contesting the new floodplain maps - which include Dorval homes along the shorelines of Lake St-Louis - that could sink property values.
The Quebec government announced last week people can’t build new homes in high-risk flood zones or rebuild homes if the damage exceeded 50 per cent of the total value.
“We’re bankrupt,” said mayor Edgar Rouleau, when asked by CJAD 800 what the new maps would mean for Dorval.
Rouleau said homeowners along the shore of Lake St-Louis - including himself - will see the value of their homes plummet under the new flood maps. As many as 500 homeowners could be affected.
The city also can’t issue any construction permits as a result of these maps.
But Rouleau argued that the maps are based on the floods of 2017, when there was a slight impact on Dorval and the floods of 2019, when there was no impact.
Rouleau said he hasn’t seen any flooding in his 50 years of living by the shores of Lake St-Louis whose water levels, he maintains, are controlled by regional dams and water management authorities.
Rouleau also argued that the maps don’t make any sense - that “it looks like someone took a ruler, drew a line and said, Ok, everything south of the line is a flood zone.”
Rouleau also pointed out that a shopping center is in a flood zone on the new map and that “it’s been over a thousand years and there hasn’t been any flooding at the shopping centre.”
While the government may be taking precautions in the wake of climate change and more flooding, “the province will have to prove we are in a flood zone,” said Rouleau.
The city is holding a public information meeting next Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Pointe Claire.