Kyle Vash: SLRD Projects

Squamish-Lillooet Regional District

Beginning in mid-2015, my time at the SLRD has been filled with challenging and interesting projects, both in the mapping and GIS side, as well as in the Planning and Development aspects of municipal government.

Some of the most interesting work came from very powerful and frightening natural hazard events. Our area covers a wide range of terrain, from ocean-front to glaciers atop 8,000 foot strato-volcanoes, and as such is prone to immensely powerful hazard events. Landslides, wildfire and flooding were of main concern over my time with the SLRD, with the most hard-hitting being a landslide event in Birken, BC that took out several homes. I was fortunate enough to travel to the event and assist in a Rapid Damage Assessment, both with the regional district and the BC Housing Authority. Our RDAs were conducted on paper, as well as a prototype GIS application with the BC Housing Authority.

Natural Hazard Information Packages for the Regional District

These tri-fold brochures were created from scratch using Adobe InDesign, with the intention of providing the public an insight into the severity and type of natural hazards that occur in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.

The idea behind the design was to have a common brand-theme across the brochures that mimics the style of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District website. Hues of blue, purple and pink are used throughout, as well as the pantone blue and yellow used in the SLRD Logo. Images and diagrams are used instead of lengthy descriptions to show natural geological and geomorphological processes that would otherwise require scientific background to understand.

Please click on an image to view it in full-size.

Calculating Lot-Line setback distances for buildings in the Agricultural Land Reserve

This project required the digitizing and creation of lot-line distances in the Agricultural Land Reserve, to be used for analysis on determining the best average set-back for new homes in the ALR. This is to increase the efficiency of arable land by having buildings closer to roads, and having more land free of buildings to plant crops.

Firstly, every building had to be digitized by hand from satellite basemap data, and subsequently tied to a ownership database. Lot line distances were then drawn from the rear of a building polygon to the front of the parcel lot line to determine the average setback distance of a home in the ALR. Line distances were summed and divided by number of distances measured to reveal the data below.

Histogram of data collected.

From this histogram we can then deduce that majority setback distances fall within a 40m - 70m range, which coincides with provincial standards of having setbacks at 60m. As bin size increases or decreases, we still see the 40m - 70m range as the dominant data count.

Close up of building, parcels and lot line measurements.

Entire area of study.

Mapping and GIS for Emergency Response and Public Safety

These maps were created under the direction of our Emergency Operations Coordinator during extreme weather or hazard events. When a weather warning is issued from Environment Canada, the SLRD enters a state of urgency, where possible danger areas could be effected. For instance, a major rain event caused a massive debris flow in Birken BC. This area now is highly susceptible to future flows due to its unstable soil. Any weather warnings in the area then are taken into high priority.

These maps were created in the anticipation that they may be used for public knowledge and be posted on our regional district website.