A service can be established in a neighbourhood or defined area to undertake a specific service for the benefit of the owners of those properties determined to be within the boundaries of the service area.  It is paid for by the owners of those properties. There are two ways to initiate this process:

1. Petition - Property owners may petition the Board for a specific service and service area. Petition forms may be produced by the Regional District office.
2. By Board initiative - The RDOS Board of Directors may decide to establish a service area and undertake a specific service on its own initiative. Notices are published in the local newspaper.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Process to Petition for a New Service Area

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Proposed Service Area Petition

Click here for petition

 For more information, please contact the Manager of Legislative Services at 250-490-4146 or info@rdos.bc.ca.

What do I do if I want to join an existing service area?

If your property is located near an existing service area for water, sewer, street lighting, garbage collection or fire protection and you wish to access the associated services, you will need to petition the Regional District Board for entry into the existing service area. Your petition will be reviewed for consistency with existing Regional District policies, plans, feasibility, and infrastructure requirements.

To start the process, please contact Planning Services staff at planning@rdos.bc.ca to obtain a petition form. All requests are required to provide basic information regarding the property, such as the legal description as well as authorization to submit the request if ownership is under multiple individuals, a different individual(s) name, a company or strata.

At this time, the Regional District does not have the ability accept digitally signed (e.g. "e- signatures") documents, but it is anticipated that this option will be in place by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

NOTE: in addition to the annual cost of the Service, which will be recovered in accordance with the requirement of the applicable Service Bylaw (e.g., by taxation), additional infrastructure upgrades may be required, the cost of which may be at the expense of the applicant.

Current Requests for New Services