Bill 14 Implementation Clarification

Circular No. 00:43

 
December 15, 2000
To: Municipal and Regional District Administrators and Planning Directors
 
Re: Bill 14 Implementation Clarification
 

• Application for Development Variance Permit prior to Board of Variance
• Official Community Plan schedule requirement
• Transition regulation regarding OCP consultation

A recent Circular (No. 00:40) provided copies of bulletins on planning and land use management and outlined a number of provisions of Bill 14, the Local Government Statutes Amendment Act, that came into force on January 1, 2001. The purpose of this Circular is to clarify some information contained in the earlier Circular and bulletins and to advise of a new regulation clarifying consultation requirements.
 

Application for Development Variance Permit prior to Board of Variance
Section 149 of Bill 14 made a number of changes to the Board of Variance provisions of the Local Government Act (Section 901). The previous Circular stated that these provisions would not be brought into force on January 1, 2001 when the other provisions of Bill 14 are proclaimed. In fact, only one part of Section 149 of Bill 14 will not come into force on January 1, 2001.
 

Only the new section (1.1) - the provision which requires a person to apply for a development variance permit prior to applying to the Board of Variance - will not come into effect on January 1, 2001. As mentioned in the previous Circular, we believe local governments would appreciate more time to get ready for this change. All of the other amendments to Section 901 will be brought into effect on January 1, 2001.
 

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Official Community Plan Schedule Requirement
Bulletin G.2.0.0 (OCP Purpose and Content) highlighted a new provision in Section 876(2) of the Local Government Act which requires that OCP's be included as a schedule to the enacting bylaw. The intention was for this provision to apply only to bylaws adopting a new or updated OCP. It was not the intention that the entire OCP should be attached as a schedule to every amendment bylaw. However, we recognize that the wording may be somewhat ambiguous and the Ministry will consider a legislative amendment to clarify this situation. In the meantime, you may wish to structure any amendment bylaws so that the amendment provisions are attached as a schedule to the adopting bylaw.
 

OCP Consultation - Transitional Regulation
Section 879 of the Local Government Act establishes new consultation requirements during the development of an OCP or the repeal or amendment of an OCP. In Bulletin Number: G.2.1.0, the Ministry indicated its intention to enact a transitional regulation to clarify the new consultation requirements for OCP bylaw amendments, repeals or new OCPs in situations where the public hearing has been held, but the bylaw was not adopted prior to January 1, 2001.
 

B.C. Regulation No. 397/2000 came into effect on December 8, 2000. This regulation is effective on January 1, 2001 and provides that the new consultation requirements do not apply to bylaws where the local government held its public hearing before January 1, 2001. The new procedural requirements do apply to other OCP bylaws that are currently under consideration but which have not had the public hearing. For more information, see Bulletin Number: G.2.1.0.
 

Lesley Watson
Director of Planning
Intergovernmental Relations and Planning Division
Phone: (250) 387-4039; Fax: (250) 387-7972
E-mail: Planning Programs Branch
 

 
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