Details are being kept under wraps, but the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) directors were asked to consider getting behind another grant application to support the shíshálh Nation’s water reservoir project last week.
At the March 14 board meeting, the board passed a motion giving SCRD support for a Nation request for Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) Disaster Risk Reduction-Climate Adaptation funding for the “initial stages” of the proposed project. In addition, the regional district was asked to indicate that it agrees to the Nation taking leadership on that initiative.
SCRD chief administrative officer Dean McKinley confirmed that supporting the grant application did not commit the board to supporting the construction of the project. The grant is to be used for pre-construction planning. No further details on the amount of funding being sought were provided.
UBCM’s website states the application deadline for the current offering is March 28. It states the grant program funding stream is intended to support First Nations and local governments “reduce risks from future disasters due to natural hazards and climate-related risks through the development and implementation of accurate foundational knowledge of the natural hazards they face and the risks associated with BC’s changing climate or effective strategies to prepare for, mitigate, and adapt to those risks."
The website explains that there are three categories within the program to aid structural and non-structural projects. The program will contribute up to the full cost of $5 million for the construction of infrastructure or amounts up to $150,000 for other types of projects.
Background
In May 2023, the Nation announced it was seeking to build two drinking water reservoirs with the first, the lower Crown project, to be developed on its lands currently being mined by Heidelberg Materials (formerly Lehigh-Hanson). Work on a joint application for about $125 million in federal funding through the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund ramped up in September of last year, in cooperation with the regional district.
On Nov. 30, representatives of the Nation appeared before the SCRD board and indicated that while federal funding had not yet been confirmed, the goal was to advance work on the project “immediately." They acknowledged that due to delays in confirming financing, the anticipated completion date for the project was moved from the original target of mid-2024 into 2025.
