Clear of steep slope and water setbacks

1.5 ha (100%)

In or within 30 m of mapped water

0%

Steeper than 30%, outside that strip

0%

15 to 30% slope

0%

On designated floodplain (counted as clear)

100%

Median slope

2%

Main slope direction

Mostly flat (slopes under 5%); measured by us on NRCan's lidar elevation model (East Kootenay survey, 2015; 2 m grid)

Which way it faces

3% south (SE to SW), 2% north (NW to NE), 88% flat; the rest east or west

Estimated by us on Natural Resources Canada's lidar elevation model, from the East Kootenay survey (2015): bare ground with buildings and trees taken out, read here on a 2 m grid, with one dot on the plan every 4 m. Retaining walls, road cuts and ditches count as steep ground, and earthworks since the survey aren't shown. Slopes over 30% usually need a geotechnical engineer's report to build on; 15 to 30% is buildable with more work.

Designated floodplain counts as clear here: homes are built on it, with floors raised to the flood construction level and setbacks from the water that the local bylaw sets. The Floodplain section names the map, and the level where we've read the local bylaw; ask the local government for the level that applies.

Not counted: zoning setbacks from the lot lines, room for a septic field and well (the Septic section screens for a field), easements and rights of way, and the local government's own slope or hazard development permit areas. What you can build names them where the local government publishes its map. A surveyor and the local government confirm where you can build.

December 21 (shortest day)

5 h 50 min of possible direct sun; 7 h 50 min on open ground

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

11 h; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

14 h 30 min; 16 h 10 min on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

16° above level; the hills due south rise to 3°, 3 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

10° above level to the south-west, 8.3 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 813 m, from head height

Computed by us from the terrain only: trees, buildings and cloud aren't counted, so the sun that reaches a window or a garden is often less. The hours are possible direct sun, counted from when the sun's centre clears the hills, at head height at the middle of the lot; another spot on a hillside lot can differ.

The horizon is read from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model in 72 directions, out to 16 km: on its 30 m grid within 1.5 km, beyond that on a 120 m version of it, where single peaks can read a little lower than they are. The curve of the earth is taken into account.

The sun's path is from the standard solar position formulas. Hours are counted in sun time; clock times shift with daylight saving and with how far the lot is from its time zone's centre.

Check it on site: visit on a clear day in December or January, look at where the trees and buildings to the south fall, and ask neighbours when the sun leaves and comes back.

Capability class (1 best, 7 none)

Class 4: about 100% of the lot

What limits it

soil holds little water, low fertility

Improved rating

Class 2 on most of the mapped part, assuming irrigation

Map scale

1:50,000: describes the area, not the field

Mapped

1960s to 1990s (digitised 2015)

These classes rate how well the land suits ordinary field crops, from the soil and climate as surveyed decades ago. Drainage, irrigation or fill since then can change the real answer, and a map at this scale can miss a good or poor field. The Agricultural Land Commission weighs these classes when it decides applications.

If farming matters to you here, a professional agrologist (P.Ag.) can assess the soil on site.

Fires on the parcel

1

Last burned on the parcel

1931

Each fire on the parcel

1931 (18,853 ha, caused by people)

Fires within 2 km

2

Within 2 km in the last 30 years

0

Most recent nearby

1985 (15,538 ha, caused by people)

Largest nearby

1931 (18,853 ha, caused by people)

Causes on record within 2 km

2 caused by people

Fire perimeters mapped by the BC Wildfire Service since 1919, each with its size and the cause the Service recorded (lightning or people, sometimes unknown); older and small fires are less complete. Past fire is history, not a forecast: for insurance, ask about the fire protection area and the distance to the nearest fire hall.

Peak ground acceleration, 2% in 50 years (the code's design level)

0.13 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.043 g

Short-period shaking Sa(0.2), the value the code uses for houses and other low buildings

0.31 g

The same value in city centres

Victoria 0.81 g, Vancouver 0.47 g, Kelowna 0.089 g, Prince George 0.064 g

These are the 2020 National Building Code's reference values at the lot's centre, on firm ground (site class C). Soft soil, fill or a slope can make shaking stronger; the site class and the values a building is designed for come from the building official or a geotechnical engineer.

2% in 50 years means shaking at least this strong has about a 1-in-2,500 chance in any year; 10% in 50 years, about 1 in 475. g is the acceleration of gravity. The comparison with Vancouver and the other cities is ours.

Liquefaction, earthquake-triggered landslides and tsunami aren't covered here; ask the local government whether it has mapped them.

On record within 5 km

0

This is a list of landslides that are known to have happened, gathered from published inventories and from mapping on satellite images and lidar. It isn't a hazard map: it doesn't say how likely a slide is here, and no record nearby doesn't mean the ground is stable. Some parts of BC (the Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon, Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, recent burn areas) are mapped in far more detail than others.

Each point mostly marks where a slide started. Debris can travel well past it, down a creek channel and onto the fan at the creek's mouth, so a lot on a fan or below a steep slope can be reached by a slide that began kilometres away. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary.

The kind of slide and its date are the database's own, mostly worked out from images, so treat them as a first look. Confirm with the local government, many of which have mapped steep-slope or debris-flow hazard areas, and with a geotechnical engineer.

Health region (regional figure, not this lot)

East Kootenay

Homes tested here

105

At or above 200 Bq/m³ (the guideline)

20 (19%)

At or above 600 Bq/m³

3

Across BC

143 of 1,817 homes (7.9%) at or above the guideline

Radon comes up from the ground and differs from one house to the next, even next door, so a regional figure says nothing certain about one home. The only way to know is a long-term test of at least 3 months. Health Canada's guideline is 200 Bq/m³ in the parts of a home where people spend more than 4 hours a day; above it, fix it within a year, and the higher the level, the sooner. For a home you buy, Health Canada suggests a long-term test once you've moved in.

The survey tested about a hundred volunteer homes per health region, with one long-term test each. That gives a rough regional picture: it isn't a map, and a region where few or none tested high can still have homes above the guideline. The survey grouped homes by the 2007 health regions; we place the lot by today's boundaries for the same areas.

Federal sites within 2 km

0

This inventory lists only contaminated sites on federal land or that the federal government is responsible for: military land, ports and harbours, airports, fisheries and research stations, reserve land, national parks and similar. Most contaminated sites in BC, such as old gas stations, dry cleaners and industrial land, are on the Province's Site Registry, which charges for searches and isn't shown here. Ask the seller what the land and its neighbours were used for; a Phase I environmental site assessment covers it properly.

Each site is one point given by its federal custodian, and a large site such as a base or an airport reaches well past it. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary to that point.

Confirm with the local government and a qualified environmental professional.

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel

None recorded

Within 500 m

None recorded

Wide-ranging species mapped over it

American Badger (Red-listed)

Secured records in the wider area

No

Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Ungulate winter range over the parcel

bighorn sheep

Red-listed species are at risk of being lost from BC; Blue-listed are of special concern. A record shows where the species was found, sometimes decades ago; no record doesn't mean nothing lives here, since most land has never been surveyed.

Wildlife Habitat Areas and ungulate winter ranges are set under the Forest and Range Practices Act and mainly limit logging and range use on Crown land; on private land they don't stop building by themselves, but they show what uses the land.

Species at risk can still limit building through local environmental development permit areas or federal critical habitat: ask the local government before planning work.

Nearest railway (2 km)

A railway siding or yard track, about 460 m from the lot line

Nearest main railway line

A main railway line (Windemere Subdivision, Canadian Pacific Kansas City), about 1.1 km from the lot line

Nearest highway or major road (2 km)

Kootenay-Columbia Highway (Highways 93 and 95), a major road, about 530 m from the lot line

Nearest airport or airstrip (2 km)

None mapped within 2 km

Distances only, not a measured noise level; noise depends on traffic, trains per day and terrain. Measured by us in a straight line from the lot line to the mapped centreline of the track or road, or to the edge of an airport's mapped grounds (to its point where only a point is mapped); a mapped line can sit some metres off the real one.

Railways are OpenStreetMap's track in use: main, branch and industrial lines, sidings and yards, and rapid transit; lines mapped as disused or abandoned, and track in tunnels, are left out. "Main line" is how OpenStreetMap's mappers class the line. Highways and major roads are the roads OpenStreetMap classes as motorway (a freeway), trunk (a highway) or primary (a major road). Airports and airstrips are every aerodrome OpenStreetMap maps, public or private, with its type where mapped; heliports aren't included. Airport noise exposure maps (the NEF contours some airports draw) aren't open data, so they aren't used.

Visit at rush hour and at night, ask the seller how often trains pass, and confirm with the local government whether a noise bylaw, a development permit area or an airport zoning regulation covers the lot. For a railway, the railway company or Transport Canada can say how many trains use the line; for an airport, ask the airport about flight paths.

Community water

No open map of the Village of Canal Flats's water service: ask the Village of Canal Flats whether the lot is on it

Wells within 2 km

56

Median depth

11 m

Median tested yield

57 L/min (29 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

5 m

Aquifer 816 under the lot

Canal Flats: unconfined sand and gravel (large river system); productivity high, vulnerability high, demand moderate; 39 wells linked, median depth 7.3 m

Neighbours' wells show what drillers found nearby, not what a new well here will find; many wells were never registered. For a property on a well, ask for a recent flow test and water quality test.

Productivity is how much water the aquifer gives up to wells; vulnerability is how easily a spill at the surface could reach it; both are the province's ratings for the whole aquifer, not this lot. Mapped aquifers cover mostly settled valleys: a lot outside every outline can still have groundwater. Confirm with a qualified hydrogeologist or registered well driller.

Nearest hospital

Invermere and District Hospital: 42 km

Next nearest hospital

East Kootenay Regional Hospital, Cranbrook: 72 km

School catchment

Not mapped for this lot: catchments are shown only where the school district's boundaries are open data, for Surrey Schools (Surrey and White Rock) and the North Vancouver School District (the City and District of North Vancouver). Ask the school district which schools serve it.

Nearest public elementary school

Martin Morigeau Elementary, Canal Flats: 600 m

Nearest public secondary school

David Thompson Secondary, Invermere: 42 km

Independent schools within 10 km

0

Nearest grocery store

Fairmont Mountainside Market: 20 km

Grocery stores within 10 km

0

Nearest fire station

Canal Flats Volunteer Fire Department: 1 km, on the Province's list

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 411, Invermere: 42 km

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us. The drive is longer, and much longer where the road winds, crosses water or takes a ferry.

Hospitals are from the Province's list. Not every hospital has a 24-hour emergency department, and some small towns have a health centre with emergency care that isn't on this list: check with the regional health authority.

Which school a child goes to depends on the school district's catchment, not on distance: ask the district.

A fire station nearby doesn't mean it covers this lot: confirm the fire protection area with the local government. Insurers price fire cover by the road distance to the hall that responds and whether the lot is inside a fire protection area.

Fire halls and ambulance stations are from the Province's First Responders list (updated 2026-09-11), with fire stations it lacks added from OpenStreetMap. A hall that has moved may still be listed at its old address.

An ambulance station is where crews are based. How soon one arrives depends on where the crew is when the call comes.

Grocery stores are from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers: one may be missing, closed or mapped in the wrong place.

Confirm services with the local government.

Best speed recorded within about 1 km

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over a wired line (cable, fibre or DSL)

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over fixed wireless

50/10 Mbps or faster

LTE mobile within about 1 km

recorded

Nearest place with 50/10 Mbps or faster

within about 1 km (about 100 m)

Data

ISED National Broadband Data, May 2026

This is the service providers report to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) for homes and roads near the lot, not a quote: ask providers whether they serve this address, at what speed and at what cost to connect.

Speeds are download/upload bands. 50/10 Mbps is ISED's top band, so a place in it can get much faster service, and it is the CRTC's target for every Canadian home.

A line that reaches homes within 1 km may stop short of this lot; bringing it further can cost the buyer. Fixed wireless and LTE need a clear line to the tower, which hills and tall trees can block.

Satellite service doesn't need nearby lines, but it needs a clear view of the sky.

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us on a grid of about 250 m.

Local government

Canal Flats

Residential rate, 2026

5.66307 per $1,000

Municipal

2.59176 per $1,000

Regional district

0.79185 per $1,000

Regional hospital district

0.44096 per $1,000

School (set by the Province)

1.5596 per $1,000

Other

0.2789 per $1,000

BC municipalities' middle rate

6.24337 per $1,000

Your bill uses BC Assessment's value for the property, which can differ from its price, and may also include parcel taxes and utility fees (water, sewer, garbage) that aren't rates on value.

The home owner grant takes up to $570 off the bill of a home its owner lives in ($770 in the Province's northern and rural area in 2026, and up to $845, or $1,045 there, for seniors, veterans and people with a disability), for homes assessed at $2,075,000 or less in 2026; above that it shrinks by $5 for each $1,000. From 2027 the northern and rural extra ends and the regular grant is $570 everywhere. The owner applies each year, and must pay at least $350 in tax ($100 for the higher grant) after it.

Rates are set each May for the year; the next year's will differ.

Police service

The Columbia Valley RCMP detachment (rural; inferred)

Crime severity index, 2025

55 (BC 92)

Violent / non-violent index

55 / 56 (BC 98 / 91)

Crime severity index, 2015

71 (BC 93)

Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025

138 (BC 281)

Theft of a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025

192 (BC 138)

Theft from a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025

230 (BC 441)

Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025

1,126 (BC 1,531)

All Criminal Code offences (not traffic), per 100,000 people, 2025

4,481 (BC 6,943)

Inferred: Statistics Canada publishes no police figures under Canal Flats's name, even where a detachment works in the town. These are the nearest RCMP rural detachment's it does publish, about 42 km away: figures for that detachment's area, not for Canal Flats. BC's police boundaries aren't open data; the local RCMP can say whose figures include Canal Flats.

The crime severity index weighs each offence by how serious it is (one assault counts for more than several thefts), with Canada in 2006 set at 100. Rates are per 100,000 people living in the police service's area, so places with many visitors, commuters or seasonal homes read high, and in small places a few incidents swing the figures a lot. These are crimes reported to police, not all crime.

In BC only Surrey, the Township of Langley, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam publish reported property crime block by block under an open licence; reports there count what was reported within 500 m of the lot. The police here don't, so the figures above are for the whole area they cover.

Police calls to a particular address aren't published in BC (privacy law keeps police records about identifiable people closed), and neither is whether a home was used as a grow-op or drug lab: that shows up as a notice on the title. Ask the seller for the Property Disclosure Statement, and your lawyer for the title search.