Surrey Coastal Flood Adaptation Strategy (CFAS)

Surrey Coastal Flood Adaptation Strategy
Client: City of Surrey
Dates: 2016 – 2019

As part of a larger project team led by Northwest Hydraulics Consulting (NHC), EcoPlan supported the City of Surrey on a five-phase project to develop a Coastal Flood Adaptation Strategy (CFAS) for the City’s coastal floodplain area which occupies 20% of Surrey’s total land area. EcoPlan led the partner engagement and facilitation component and managed the project’s innovative value-based decision process that engaged a broad range of community partners to ensure that the planning process is community-driven, participatory, and transparent.

Comprehensive engagement with internal and external partners was a core project objective and integrated with a structured, value-based planning approach which meaningfully engaged participants in project decision-making. Over the three-year planning process, CFAS actively involved Semiahmoo First Nation, residents, farmers and the agricultural community, community and environmental organizations, business associations and groups, provincial and federal agencies and Ministries, and neighbouring jurisdictions. Over 30 organizations, agencies, and governments participated in the project, while over 2,000 residents attended workshops, open houses, focus groups, or participated through project surveys and other engagement events. Project communications generated major national media coverage and over a quarter million social media impressions.

Combined with the project’s robust and sophisticated technical assessment and modelling component, the community-driven approach helped Surrey secure the largest ($77.6 million) federal grant the City has received through the Disaster Mitigation Adaptation Fund (DMAF) in 2019. With a total project budget of almost $190 million, the City of Surrey is moving ahead on the development of 13 shorter-term CFAS projects which are to be completed by 2027.