A land use contract is a contract between the property owner and local government and governs the use and development of the property.
Land use contracts were allowed in B.C. between 1971 and 1978 and have not been used since. Most of the Town relies exclusively on the zoning bylaw to regulate use and development, but the Town still has three areas of Town with overlapping Land Use Contracts and zoning (two in the Eaglecrest area and one in the College Road area):
In addition to the Province of British Columbia requiring all land use contracts be terminated as of June 30, 2024, the Province has put forth Bill 44 – Housing Statues (Residential Development) Amendment Act, 2023 – a set of policies and guidelines to address zoning concerns and housing shortages across the Province. Bill 44 requires that the Town amend zoning rules to increase permitted density in areas that are currently zoned for single-family homes, reduce one-off public hearings and rework local planning and land use frameworks in BC.
The Town will be discharging the old land use contracts and will update each of the zoning regulations currently in the land use contract, in conjunction with updating the Zoning Bylaw in compliance with Bill 44. The bylaw amendments will go before Council for consideration in a public meeting with the associated public notification.
All affected landowners received a letter which included information about the termination. Additionally, a survey was drafted to gauge whether or not that R1 was the appropriate choice for these areas. The letters and survey were available for landowners affected under these land use contracts. The survey ran from September 29 to October 30. For a summary of the survey results, please click here.
More information on Bill 44 can be found here.
Contact Planning and Community Development 250.752.6921 [email protected]
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