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WCEL
> Issues > Urban Growth and
Development > Smart Bylaws Guide > Part
8 > Address Risk
Smart Bylaws Guide – Address Risk
Many municipalities and developers are wary of smart growth
approaches or innovative projects because of liability concerns.
This is particularly evident in the area of surface stormwater
drainage. However, smart growth strategies do not change traditional
understanding about liability. Municipalities are still
responsible for ensuring safety of people and property, but how that
safety is achieved is the focus of new methods of development.
Developers and municipalities are addressing risks through
adaptive management agreements (evaluating the performance of new
management approaches and changing practices over time as experience
is gained on a project) and monitoring. By requiring ongoing
monitoring of new technologies and approaches, municipalities are
building up a body of knowledge that will decrease liability
concerns about new approaches over the long term.
A cornerstone of working with natural systems, even in urban
areas, is taking an adaptive management approach. Definitions
of adaptive management vary by discipline and project, but it
essentially refers to evaluating the performance of new management
approaches and changing practices over time as experience is gained
on a project. For example, the performance of roadside swales
and detention ponds in a new subdivision can be monitored by the
municipality or developer to determine how well they are
functioning. This knowledge would be used to change the design
guidelines for the next subdivision and to revise the existing
stormwater management system. The City of Chilliwack is using
this approach and has monitored three different subdivisions and
subsequently revised the stormwater management designs.
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Definition of Adaptive Management
Adaptive management
incorporates research into conservation action. Specifically, it
is the integration of design, management, and monitoring to
systematically test assumptions in order to adapt and learn.
Conditions That Warrant an Adaptive
Management Approach
Condition
1: Conservation Projects Take Place In Complex Systems
Condition 2: The World Is a Constantly and Unpredictably Changing
Place
Condition 3: Our "Competitors" Are Changing and Adapting
Condition 4: Immediate Action Is Required
Condition 5: There Is No Such Thing as Complete Information
Condition 6: We Can Learn and Improve
Steps in the Process of Adaptive
Management
START:
Establish a Clear and Common Purpose
STEP A: Design an Explicit Model of Your System
STEP B: Develop a Management Plan That Maximizes Results and
Learning
STEP C: Develop a Monitoring Plan to Test Your Assumptions
STEP D: Implement Your Management and Monitoring Plans
STEP E: Analyze Data and Communicate Results
ITERATE: Use Results to Adapt and Learn
Principles for the Practice of Adaptive
Management
Principle
1: Do Adaptive Management Yourself
Principle 2: Promote Institutional Curiosity and Innovation
Principle 3: Value Failures
Principle 4: Expect Surprise and Capitalize on Crisis
Principle 5: Encourage Personal Growth
Principle 6: Create Learning Organizations and Partnerships
Principle 7: Contribute to Global Learning
Principle 8: Practice the Art of Adaptive Management
(Adaptive
Management: A Tool for Conservation Practitioners, Salafsky
et. al.)
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Developers
are also taking the lead in proposing adaptive management solutions.
Runoff from the roads in the new development on Burnaby Mountain is
infiltrated back into the soil using swales and catchment areas. The
City of Burnaby agreed to allow this approach, without requiring an
additional back-up scheme of conventional pipes, if the developers
agreed to adjust future systems if problems emerged. The developer
also agreed to an adaptive management approach where it will monitor
the system over time to evaluate its effectiveness and increase the
knowledge about how such systems work in a wet, hilly climate. This
will allow the owners to adjust the system as its function changes.
The
project manager of the Vancouver Island Technology Park in Saanich
provided a written agreement to the regional health officer that he
would replace waterless urinals if they caused any health concerns.
Finally,
the Municipal Insurance Association has proposed a new Model
Building Bylaw that clarifies the roles of all the parties involved
in development. The purpose is to limit the liability of
municipal governments by placing the onus on design professionals
(engineers and architects) to certify the veracity of plans and to
supervise building on-site. The municipality’s role is to
ensure that a registered professional has certified all aspects of
the project design.
Municipal
Insurance Association Building Bylaw Project (2002)
For More Information
Chapter 5 of the The
Green Infrastructure Guide (West Coast Environmental Law,
2007)
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