Image: Government of B.C. via Flickr / Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens speaks last week after flood waters filled Sumas Prairie.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Waiving fees, streamlining permits

City of Abbotsford to waive fees, expedite permits for flood-impacted properties

Dec 18, 2025 | 7:54 AM

ABBOTSFORD — To support the nearly 500 properties who were placed under an evacuation order the past week, the City of Abbotsford says it will waive building permit fees and move swiftly on permit processing.

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, the municipality says 485 properties across Sumas Prairie were placed under an evacuation order. Since these orders have since been lifted and residents return home, Abbotsford City Council has authorized temporary measures to help reduce financial strain and expedite the permitting process for demolition, restoration and reconstruction of flood-damaged homes, barns and other structures.

For the next 12 months, for properties located within the Eligible Properties Area Map, the City says it will prioritize restoration building permits through an “over-the-counter” building permit process; expedite demolition permits and building permits for structural repairs, with a review and issuance target of two working days or less; streamline and move quickly on building permits for reconstruction of accessory structures, such as barns or sheds, with a review and issuance target of five working days, and waive flood restoration building permit and demolition permit fees.

The city says the policy resembles similar actions taken following the 2021 flooding, when Abbotsford City Council also waived restoration-related fees to help ease the financial burden on affected residents.

Also on Wednesday, the City of Abbotsford said it had downgraded all remaining evacuation orders for 11 properties to evacuation alerts and canceled evacuation alerts for 474 properties in Sumas Prairie. Floodwaters have receded to the point that the BC River Forecast Centre has downgraded the Sumas River from Flood Warning to High Stream Flow Advisory, now that all residents in Sumas Prairie can safely return to their properties.

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The city says rapid damage assessments were conducted on homes within the evacuation area observed to be impacted by the floodwaters prior to lifting the orders. Altogether, 341 homes were assessed as green, meaning re-entry of the building was permitted, and 28 were assessed as yellow, meaning access to the structure is restricted, contingent on varying conditions.

Assessments were done on the outer structure of homes only, not the inside or other buildings on the property, such as sheds or barns.

There are still a few road closures in place and drivers are reminded to follow traffic control signage. Complete road closure information can be found at www.abbotsford.ca/roadclosures.

The city says staff in the Emergency Operations Centre will continue to monitor river levels, dikes, roads and weather conditions over the coming days.