Red Hill Creek Floodplain Mapping

map of watersheds in Red Hill creek
Figure 1: Red Hill Creek Watershed Area – click for full-size PDF

Hamilton Conservation Authority’s (HCA) watershed includes Red Hill Creek. The Red Hill Creek Watershed is one of the major watersheds feeding into Hamilton Harbour. Within the Red Hill Creek Watershed, there are eight distinct sub-watersheds which include Hannon Creek, Upper Ottawa, Upper Davis, Lower Davis, Upper Greenhill, Lower Greenhill, Montgomery and the Red Hill Valley (Figure 1 at right).

The overall objective of both provincial and HCA policy is to generally direct development to areas outside of watercourse hazard areas. In considering proposals for development near watercourses, it is necessary to consider and account for the combined limits of the flooding, erosion and valley slope hazards in order to mitigate, to the greatest extent possible, the potential effects of these hazards on property and public safety, to ensure existing hazardous conditions are not aggravated, and to provide for the maintenance of watercourse processes.

HCA regulates development in areas adjacent to watercourses that may be affected by flooding, erosion or valley slope hazards under Section 28 of the Conservation Authorities Act and Ontario Regulation 41/24, Prohibited Activities, Exemptions and Permits. The hazard limits associated with watercourses are delineated based on the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) standards and criteria, and consist of the furthest extent of the aggregate of all applicable hazards.

HCA’s Planning & Regulation Policies and Guidelines (October 6, 2011) describe how the flooding, erosion and valley slope hazard limits are determined based on the provincial standards and criteria, and in consideration of existing available technical information and data. While HCA does map estimated hazard limits for key watercourses and their associated regulated areas, some of the information on which hazard limits are based has become outdated, and current and comprehensive mapping is not available to staff.

Given the above, HCA had floodplain mapping prepared for Red Hill Creek. This provides the HCA with updated watercourse flood hazard mapping of key watercourse sections, based on the latest technical information and data.  This information assists the HCA in administering its regulation of development near watercourses.

The floodplain mapping was undertaken in accordance with the HCA Floodplain Mapping Standards. The floodplain mapping for Red Hill Creek is being made available for public information, review and comment. Comments received will be considered by HCA and its consultant in finalizing the floodplain mapping. Comments can be sent to:

Jonathan Bastien
Manager, Water Resources Engineering
jbastien@conservationhamilton.ca

The floodplain mapping is available for public review and comment until November 15, 2024.