Dinsmore Environmental Impact Assessment
2018-2021 | Summerland, BC
McElhanney was approached by landowner Ron Kubek to provide planning, and environmental assessment services for a proposed subdivision in the District of Summerland. Located in the South Okanagan-Similkameen, Summerland contains many of the province’s at-risk ecosystems, habitats, and species. Required by the District of Summerland (the district), this Environmental Impact Assessment would help Kubek and the district assess and mitigate the potential environmental impacts of the development.
McElhanney designed a regulatory framework based on multiple pieces of federal and provincial legislation before launching fieldwork. McElhanney’s teams kept this framework in mind as they performed field assessments for a period of two years. From climate and rainfall tracking to wildlife surveys, data was collected to inform the final Environmental Impact Assessment.
McElhanney’s work on this project contributed to the protection of at-risk ecosystems, habitats, and species, while allowing a new housing development to move forward.
McElhanney provided:
- Environmentally Sensitive Development Permit (ESDP) surveys, reporting, and permit application.
- Field assessments, including, tree assessment and measurement, floristic surveys, burrow assessment and monitoring, woodpecker surveys, snake surveys, amphibian assessment, site condition assessment, and Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) determination.
- Review of federal and provincial environmental data to examine potential impacts to critical habitat for species at risk, and liaison with government agencies regarding permitting requirements.
- Designation of the project property into Environmentally Sensitive Areas (Category ESA-1, ESA-2, ESA-3, or ESA-4) depending on sensitivity of the habitat present.
- Impact assessment to address areas where development can freely occur and to define areas where environmental constraints may limit the percentage of the area available for development.
