Province offers $11M for buyouts in Fort McMurray; 38 property owners say they're interested

The provincial government is offering $11 million to buy outhomesin a Fort McMurray flood zone andmore thanhalf of the affected property ownersare interested.

In December, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo voted tooffer buyoutsto all property ownersin the Ptarmigan Court neighbourhood,which was heavily damaged when theHangingstone River flooded inApril 2020.

There are 69 properties in the zone;20 areemptylots. The buyouts are expected to cost the province and the municipality about $14 million in total.

Administration said building a berm to protect the flood-prone neighbourhood wasn't feasible.

In an email, Greg Bennett, representative for municipality, said Wood Buffalo has been in contact with 65 of the 69 property owners.

Of those, 38 expressedinterest in the buyouts, eight have nointerestand three hope to raise the foundation of their mobile homes above flood levels.Homeowners have until May 31to decide.

For some, the buyouts were long-awaited.

Louis Rondeau has been looking for a buyout since the 2016 Horse River wildfire.

His home onthe Hangingstone River was flooded in April 2020.

Nowas the municipality installs temporary berms and blocks off roads and trails to protect the community from further flooding, Rondeau is finalizing the purchase of his new home in Okotoks, south of Calgary.Heexpectsto movein mid-April.

"It feels good,"Rondeau said. "It's unfortunate;we've spent a lot of time and money on this place and it's a beautiful area."

Rondeau described his home as the "poster child" for the flood, as it is right next to the river and flooded severely, and haslittleresale value.

Luckily he won't be coming out of thedeal with debt, as some residents in the area might, he said.

Rondeau couldn't discuss the specifics of his deal with the municipality, as he's signed a non-disclosure agreement.

He said it's stressful living in the area duringspring, because there's always the fear offlooding.

"Now I get to go live the 100-days-of-the-year-fishing dream," he said.

Somethougharen't happy with the buyoutsas there's no room for negotiation. The municipality is offering the 2020 tax assessment value for the home.

John Wuis said his home is worth far more than the $288,000 being offered.

In 2019 Wuis's home was assessed at $298,000 and the year before at $361,000.

He added that he doesn't believe the process of using tax assessments is fair, as it doesn't account for home upgrades or things like landscaping, both of which Wuis has done.

Not accounting for the work put into the home is "aggravating," he said."They're rewarding people that didn't put any grass in.We're talking huge difference in a cost."

Wuis said the assessments are "inaccurate" and the buyouts shouldn't be based on that number alone.

"The buyout is really great for certain people," he said. "The 2020 assessment,I'm $30,000 to $50,000or$60,000lower than what I could've sold in 2020 for."

Wuissaidhe won't be taking the offer, but he worries the municipality willexpropriate it anyway.