Two months after its last regular meeting, Bowen Island Municipal Council reconvened Monday evening.
Council swept away its legislative cobwebs with the Land Use Bylaw amendments formerly known as “housekeeping.”
BIM is in the process of the first substantial review of the LUB since its adoption in 2002 (when BIM was a barely hatched municipality). “The intent was not to make specific changes but to clarify intent behind regulation,” BIM’s manager of planning and development Daniel Martin, told the Undercurrent in July.
Some proposed changes are relatively minor – tweaking words here and there – other changes have wider implications.
The amendments have passed second reading and gone to public hearing. Monday, Martin presented council with an overview of the more than 100 public comments regarding the bylaw, and gave options of how to address them. Councillors spent an hour parsing through and debating the suggestions before the bylaw comes forward for third reading in a few weeks’ time.
The size and complexity of the bylaw was a point of contention for several islanders. Martin presented the option of splitting the bylaw into five, but councillors opted to try to make bylaw 528 work.
The controversy over automobile repair as a home occupation wasn’t resolved. The proposed amendments in bylaw 528 would see commercial car repair limited to one car per property per month. The current bylaw allows for one car at a time, a loophole that has allowed a home occupation car repair shop to open on-island. The majority of the letters to BIM centred on this topic – most not in favour of the change. Coun. Alison Morse said that when they drafted the bylaw 20 years ago, there was never an intent to allow home occupation automobile repair. (Should the one vehicle per month regulation pass, the home occupation repair shop would still be allowed to operate.)
The community feedback showed that this is a larger issue, said Coun. Maureen Nicholson, and she doesn’t think that the one car per calendar month limitation addresses it. She proposed leaving the current LUB status quo. Councillors came to no agreement.
On the other hand, it was a quick and unanimous decision to remove “hobby” from the automobile repair home occupation section, ensuring that hobbyists are not held to the same requirements as commercial automobile shops (another major concern in the public comments). Councillors also opted to have Martin examine the definition of “derelict vehicle” so as to distinguish collectors’ cars from broken down cars left to rot.
A Cape Roger Curtis development permit area came to a split vote. The LUB lists environmental protection development permit restrictions for the cape but the restrictions aren’t enforceable as the permit area isn’t designated in the Official Community Plan. Martin had proposed removing the section from the LUB but community comments suggested instead reinstating the section to the OCP. Martin noted that an island-wide environmentally sensitive areas DPA would probably align more with the OCP. CAO Liam Edwards noted that an OCP amendment is a major staff undertaking. In a four to three vote, council directed staff to leave the cape section in the LUB and start the OCP amendment process to add a development permit area for Cape Roger Curtis. Morse, Ander and Coun. Michael Kaile voted against.
Council considered several other changes, including how covered walkways define buildings and the definition of “domestic agriculture.”
Bylaw 528 is set to come forward for third reading in a few weeks' time.
