Under Section 488 of the Local Government Act, the Regional District may designate a development permit area in order to address things such as the protection of the natural environment, the form and character of industrial buildings or the protection of development from hazardous conditions.

In designating such areas, the Act also requires that the Regional District establish the types of activities required to obtain a permit before being commenced.  These activities generally involve either the subdivision of land, construction of buildings or alteration of land.

There are seven development permit area designations under the Electoral Area “D” Official Community Plan (OCP) Bylaw No. 2603, 2013; two of which, being the Industrial and Multiple Family Development Permit areas, do not clearly establish what forms of activities require a permit.

Both of these development permit areas have been designated under Section 488(1)(f) of the Act, which relates to the “establishment of objectives for the form and character of commercial, industrial or multi-family residential development.”  The Industrial DP Area has further been designated under Section 488(1)(a) in order to protect the natural environment (e.g. Aquifer Protection Area).

The purpose of the proposed OCP amendments is to provide further clarity as to the types of activities which require a Multiple Family or Industrial Development Permit.

Shannon Duong
Planner I
sduong@rdos.bc.ca