Union of BC Municipalities
Community Excellence
Awards Submission
Category: Best Practices, General
July 23, 2010
District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
DISTRICT OF NORTH VANCOUVER
NATURAL HAZARDS
MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
In 2005 the fatal Berkley landslide occurred in a residential area of the District of North
Vancouver. This tragic event called to question the roles and responsibilities of government in
managing natural hazards. Following the response and recovery phases, the District worked
with scientists, government agencies and our community to better understand the events
leading up to the event and to develop policies and procedures to ensure that a similar
situation would not occur in the future. A risk-based approach is now utilized to assess and
communicate natural hazard risks, compare those risks to community-adopted risk tolerance
criteria and make defensible decisions regarding land use in hazard areas. This risk-based
approach forms the backbone of the District’s natural hazards management program, a
program that is innovative, proactive, transparent and transferrable to other municipalities
facing similar challenges. In November 2009, District Council adopted a policy on risk tolerance
criteria and formally recognized the natural hazards management program, including allocation
of an annual operating budget, demonstrating long term commitment and continued
leadership of this important public safety program.
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District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
SUMMARY REPORT
The Program
One of five key goals identified in the District of North Vancouver’s Corporate Plan is to
promote community health, safety and resilience as the foundation for all our community
efforts and aspirations. “Before we can make resource allocation decisions, we must
understand the full range of risks and hazards that we may be required to respond to. We must
make decisions about prioritizing limited resources to current and foreseen challenges in
consultation with the community and with a reasonable perspective on risk tolerance. As our
challenges and mandate expand, innovation and partnerships will be critical to effective
affordable solutions” (District of North Vancouver Corporate Plan 2009-2011).
The mission of the natural hazards management program is to manage hazards and risks in a
progressive, balanced and integrated manner, utilizing best practices and excellent
communication.
Key components of the program (Figure 1) are to:
1. Understand and communicate hazards and risks through risk assessments, public
education, and hazard database and mapping;
2. Increase resiliency through policy development, land use planning, warning systems,
mitigation, and liaising with other levels of government and the scientific community;
3. Enhance response capacity through emergency planning, exercises and building
interagency relationships.
A Risk-based Approach
The District is situated on sloping terrain, interspersed with many creeks and rivers, between
the Coast Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Prone to severe weather conditions, the District is
exposed to a range of natural hazard threats. Existing and ongoing quantitative risk analyses
(QRA) document estimated risks associated with natural hazards. The QRA approach was first
used to assess landslide risks along the Berkley escarpment. In addition to the Berkley
escarpment, seven other escarpment areas were identified to be assessed for landslide risks.
These seven areas have been systematically and proactively assessed in order of priority over
the past 3 years. A similar QRA approach has also been used to assess debris flow risks
associated with ten mountain creeks across the District.
Upon receiving a risk assessment report, one of the following courses of action must be
determined:
1. unacceptable risks exist and remedial action is recommended;
2. risks are tolerable, but not negligible, and should be kept under review and further
reduced if reasonable and practical opportunities exist; or,
3. risks are considered broadly acceptable and no further action is warranted.
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District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (APEGBC) Guidelines for
Legislated Landslide Assessments for Proposed Residential Developments in British Columbia
(2008, p.4) state that “It is not the role of a Professional Engineer or Professional Geoscientist
to define levels of safety; they must be established and adopted by the local government or
provincial government after considering a range of social values.”
In February 2007, Council held a workshop to initiate the natural hazards management program
and approved a plan which included, “establish a process to adopt risk tolerance criteria”. The
Natural Hazards Task Force was assembled to provide a forum to gather input from an
informed, broad-based community perspective regarding quantitative risk tolerance criteria for
landslides and other natural hazards. The task force, comprised of eight volunteer residents,
presented their recommendations to District Council in April, 2008. The District’s risk tolerance
criteria are based on research, public input, dialogue with subject-matter experts, learning from
experiences of other jurisdictions with similar legal frameworks and natural hazard situations,
and the District’s own experiences. Society is generally less accepting of risks today as it was in
the past. This is taken into consideration by adopting two-tiered risk tolerance criteria, with
more stringent criteria for new development (Figure 2). It is expected that risk tolerance criteria
will be reviewed and adjusted from time to time, to reflect changes in community planning best
practices, advances in engineering and technology, socioeconomics, and perceptions of risk.
Other hazards, such as wildfire and flooding, tend to occur in such a manner and timeframe
that those at risk may be able to evacuate as a risk-reduction measure, resulting in relatively
low risks to life but possibly higher risks to property, environment or other things of value.
Placing a higher value on life safety is consistent with the British Columbia Emergency Response
Management System (BCERMS) goals but other risks should not be ignored. Risks to the
property, environment, critical infrastructure and public health are considered as part of a
broader decision-making framework, Integrated Risk Assessment for Natural Hazards. The
District has partnered with Natural Resources Canada to test and refine this framework –
bridging the gap between concept and practice.
Enhanced Service and Accountability
The natural hazards management program has greatly improved public access to information
regarding natural hazards and risks. Detailed risk assessments have been completed across
the District on both private and public land for landslides, debris flows and forest fires.
Detailed flood and earthquake risk assessments are currently underway in partnership with
UBC and Natural Resources Canada. The District's new GeoWeb Hazards application visually
indicates areas of the District that are prone to natural hazards and the field study reports
layer shows areas where hazard and risk assessments have been completed by qualified
professionals. Field study reports can be downloaded directly from the GeoWeb site or
accessed in hard copy at District public libraries. The maps are based on the best information
currently available and are continually updated as additional information becomes available.
As new assessments are completed, notification is sent to property owners, public meetings
are held and records are added to the District's natural hazard database.
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District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
In October 2009, the District implemented a debris flow warning system. The system is
based on current and forecasted meteorological data combined with statistical analyses of
historical events, and predicts when debris flows are unlikely, possible, likely or very likely to
occur (Figure 3). The system is updated hourly, and available between October - April each
year via a telephone line and the District website.
Mitigation priorities, both active and passive, are determined by comparing assessed risks
with the Council-adopted policy on risk tolerance criteria. Active mitigation measures include
drainage improvements, fill removal, bioengineering, debris basins, deflection berms, and
watershed management actions. Passive mitigation includes land use planning, monitoring
and warning systems. The District is responsible for carrying out and maintaining mitigation
work on public lands. Property owners are responsible for implementation and ongoing
maintenance of mitigation work on private land.
Policies and procedures are in place to ensure that qualified professionals assess applications
for proposed development, taking into account natural hazards and risks and following
professional practice guidelines. Development and building permit applicants are required to
meet the risk tolerance criteria for new and re-development. A new Official Community Plan is
under development (anticipated in 2011) that includes Development Permit Areas for natural
hazards to further regulate development in hazard areas. Risk tolerance criteria do not
supersede industry best practices and are considered an addition to existing requirements for
issuing building and development permits.
The District leverages grant funding opportunities where possible. Notable projects include the
development of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, a fuel treatment pilot project and
operational fuel treatment projects to protect critical infrastructure, funded through the UBCM
Strategic Wildfire Prevention Program. A full-scale emergency exercise, Operation Dry
Lightning, was held in June 2008 to enhance interagency response and communication, funded
in part by the Joint Emergency Preparedness Program. The Lynnmour Flood Protection works
are currently underway, funded in part by the Building Canada Fund.
The natural hazards management program has likely reduced the occurrence and severity of
natural hazard events by building resiliency, thereby saving money and resources required to
respond to an emergency.
Increased Awareness and Education
Risk tolerance is rooted in community values and risk perception. The District’s Natural Hazards
Task Force was initiated in 2007 to engage the community regarding natural hazards and risk
tolerance. This dedicated group of community volunteers received presentations from subject
matter experts in the topics of natural hazards, risk assessment models, mitigation methods,
finance and legal considerations. The task force sought public input through a variety of public
consultation processes and, after much deliberation, made their recommendations to Council.
Those recommendations form the basis of the District's current policy for risk tolerance.
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District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
Risk communication is a critical component of the risk management process and it is essential
to engage the public in dialogue about hazards and risks. This is accomplished in the District
through web-based surveys, open houses, public meetings and educational materials such as
hazard maps and brochures. The brochures Guide to Living near Steep Slopes and
Understanding Debris Flows (attached) are accessible to the public online or in hard copy. A
dedicated staff member liaises with stakeholders including the public, property owners,
municipal staff, scientific community, developers, realtors and educators to raise awareness
and support informed decision-making. The District is in the early stages of developing school
curriculum about natural hazards with a local geography teacher.
Integration and Adaptation
Much work is being accomplished in BC in the fields of emergency management, risk
assessment methodologies, land use planning and GIS. One of the key strengths of the District’s
natural hazards management program is the integration these areas of expertise under a
comprehensive and collaborative program. The following groups are actively involved in the
program:
 District Council and Staff
 Citizens and other community partners
 Agencies and government bodies – emergency management, APEGBC
 Scientific community and technical experts – Natural Resources Canada; geotechnical
and forestry consultants
 Educational institutions - UBC Earthquake Engineering Research and School of
Community and Regional Planning; SFU Centre for Natural Hazards Research and
Environmental Management
Information and ideas sharing sessions are held periodically to maintain involvement and
remain open to a variety of perspectives. District Staff participate on a number of regional
working groups and conferences. This participation enables us to learn from others, share our
experiences and contribute to developing best practices that will strengthen our collective
resilience to natural hazard events across Canada.
It is anticipated that as the District’s experience applying risk tolerance criteria continues to
develop, the criteria will need to be revisited and perhaps adjusted to meet the future needs of
our community. Ongoing discussion with stakeholders is paramount, as risk tolerance criteria is
determined more by social values than by technical advances.
Relevance and Transferability
Many municipalities across Canada struggle with the following complex questions:
1. How safe is safe enough?
2. How to prioritize mitigation within limited budgets?
3. How to talk with the community about risk?
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District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
The District’s program, approach, and experiences gained are readily shared and transferrable
to other municipalities living with natural hazards. The District’s risk tolerance criteria have
been included in the most recent version of the APEGBC Guidelines for Legislated Landslide
Assessments for Residential Development in BC and are available to other approving authorities
to use or adapt as appropriate.
Our brochures are available for others to use as templates and public information available in
the natural hazards section of the District website dnv.org/hazards is easily transferrable to
other municipalities. The debris flow warning system is also transferrable, when combined with
creek specific debris flow risk assessments and understanding of local weather conditions.
The District’s natural hazards management program is consistent with the Canadian Standards
Association Guidelines for Risk Management (Figure 4). The District has partnered with Natural
Resources Canada in an Integrated Risk Assessment for Natural Hazards project to develop and
test process oriented methods and tools that will help to build capacity to anticipate, plan for
and mitigate the risks associated with growth and development in areas exposed to natural
hazards. Once complete, the framework, which is based on the National Disaster Mitigation
Strategy (2007), and support tools will be available to municipalities across Canada.
Innovation & Creativity
A progressive, transparent approach to the challenging issues surrounding natural hazards is a
departure from the traditional, more reactive approach of waiting until an event occurs before
assessing and taking steps to manage natural hazard risks. To our knowledge, the District of
North Vancouver is the first municipality in Canada to adopt community-based risk tolerance
criteria governing natural hazards. The setting of risk tolerance criteria at the Council policy
level, rather than on an ad hoc basis by staff at the operational level, assists in reducing liability
exposure. The risk tolerance criteria also assist in the making of good, clear, consistent and
defensible decisions relating to natural hazard management.
At the operational level, the program includes specific innovations such as the storm
drainage incentive program, available to homeowners living on the crests of slopes to
effectively manage stormwater by directing it away from slopes. The District funds a
"Geotech-on-Demand" service, where concerned property owners can request the services
of a qualified professional to conduct a brief geotechnical assessment of their property and
provide some minor general guidance on next steps in reducing risk. This service is also used
to assist in interpreting the more technical aspects of risk assessment reports. We are also
the first municipality to implement a publically-accessible debris flow warning system.
The District has been bold enough to proactively learn about hazards and engage our
community in dialogue about topics that are difficult and complicated to deal with. Following
the Berkley landslide, the District made the choice to look deeper than just the event at hand
and think forward towards systematically building community resilience to natural hazards. The
natural hazards management program is a good example of a comprehensive, tangible
approach to complex issues facing many local governments in BC.
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District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
Figure 1: An Integrated Approach to Public Safety
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District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
Figure 2: District of North Vancouver Natural Hazards Risk Tolerance Criteria
1:10,000
1:100,000
FOS>1.3
Type of Application
Building Permit (<25% increase to gross floor
area)
+ ALARP
(static)
X
X
FOS>1.5
(static)
Building Permit (>25% increase to gross floor
area and/or retaining walls >1.2m)
X
X
Re-zoning
X
X
Sub-division
X
X
New Development
X
X
*Expressed in terms of number of fatalities per year for individuals exposed to natural hazards
ALARP – As Low as Reasonably Practicable
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District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
Figure 3: Debris Flow Warning System
Updated hourly and accessible October –
April at www.dnv.org and 604.990.2399
Must be combined with knowledge about
risks at specific sites and personal risk
tolerance
Based on:
 statistical analysis of historical
events
 antecedent rainfall
 current rainfall intensities
 forecasted rainfall
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District of North Vancouver
Natural Hazards Management Program
Figure 4: Natural Hazards Risk Management Framework
(after CAN/CSA – Q850-97 Risk Management Guidelines for Decision-makers)
(Public meetings, reports, presentations, databases)
Risk Communication
DNV Natural Hazard Risk Management Framework (after CAN/CSA-Q850-97)
Initiation
Define problem or opportunity and associated risk issue(s).
Identify risk management team.
Assign responsibility, authority and resources.
Preliminary
Analysis
Identify hazards using risk scenarios
Review causes, triggers, behaviour and consequences of
previous failures.
Risk Estimation Apply repeatible and transparent methodology for estimating
frequency and consequence of risk scenarios.
Risk Evaluation Compare estimated risks against stakeholder acceptance
criteria.
Prioritise requirements for risk reduction.
Risk Control
Identify feasible risk control options (stabilization, protection &
warning), including estimated costs and residual risks.
Assess stakeholder acceptance of residual risk.
Action/
Monitoring
Implement chosen risk control strategies.
Re-assess residual risks.
Establish a monitoring process.
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