This
can have huge impact on the value of property.
Riparian
Areas Regulation
— Update January 2005 - The provincial government recently introduced
the Riparian Areas Regulation as a replacement for the Streamside Protection
Regulation, enacted under Section 12 of the Fish Protection Act in January
2001. The RAR calls on local governments, by March 31, 2005,
to protect riparian areas during residential, commercial and industrial
development by ensuring that proposed activities are subject to a science
based assessment conducted by a qualified environmental professional.
(information from the Real Estate Council of BC)
Streamside
Protection Regulation
— Update Dec. 2001- The Streamside Protection Regulation, enacted under
Section 12 of the Fish Protection Act in January 2001, calls on
local governments to establish streamside protection and enhancement areas
in residential, commercial and industrial zones and to identify these
areas through their land use plans and regulations by the year 2006.
The purpose of the Regulation is to provide protection for the features,
functions and conditions that are vital in the natural maintenance of
stream health and productivity.
If
you would like more detailed information about this issue, visit the BC
government site
about the Fish Protection Act.
Some
History - Riparian Protection
A
streamside protection regulation has been developed under Section 12 of
the Fish Protection Act (FPA), which requires local governments to protect
streamside areas according to management objectives such as mandatory
setbacks. The streamside policy directives call for a range of approaches
from requiring development free areas (where riparian areas are intact
or have a high potential for restoration) to vegetation, soil and impervious
surface management approaches (in areas where riparian areas have been
altered by existing subdivision and development). Some members of the
public have called upon the government to compensate them if the regulation
results in restrictions on the use of their land. Streamside policy directives
are to be implemented by local governments which operate under the Municipal
Act which states that: .
s. 914
(1) Compensation is not payable to any person for any reduction in the
value of that person's interest in land, or for any loss or damages that
result from the adoption of an official community plan, a rural land use
bylaw or a bylaw under this Division or the issue of a permit under Division
9 of this Part.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply where the rural land use bylaw or bylaw
under this Division restricts the use of land to a public use.
See http://www.wcel.org/wcelpub/1999/12747.html
Copyright © 1995-2002 by the West Coast Environmental Law Research
Foundation
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