The Regional District Board is proposing amendments to the Watercourse Development Permit (WDP) Area designations in the Electoral Area "A", "C", "D", "E", "F", "H" & "I" Official Community Plan (OCP) Bylaws in order to ensure consistency with the recently implemented provincial Riparian Area Protection Regulation (RAPR).

it is further being proposed to amend the application requirements and processing procedures for WDPs found in the Regional District’s Development Procedures Bylaw No. 2500, 2011, in order to reflect the RAPR.

In light of the new legislative framework introduced by the RAPR, it is proposed that the WDP Area “Guidelines” be amended to require the following be submitted by an applicant:

An Assessment Report, prepared in accordance with Part 4 (Assessments and Assessment Reports) of the provincial Riparian Area Protection Regulation, must be received by the Regional District in respect of the proposed development from the responsible provincial minister.

In support of this, it is further proposed that the Development Procedures Bylaw be amended to require the following as an application submission requirement:

an assessment report, provided to the Regional District by the responsible provincial minister under Section 6 of the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation in relation to the development, and which is not expired under Section 7 of the Regulation.

Other proposed amendments to the WDP Area designation include:

• updating the list of activities that constitute “development”, which is currently based on the (now rescinded) Riparian Area Regulation (RAR), to those used in other DP Areas (i.e. ESDP triggers);
• placing development permit triggers (i.e. building, subdivision, land disturbance) in their own sub-section as is done with other DP Area designations (currently, the triggers are comprised within the “Guidelines” section);
• removing the section related the requirement for monitoring reports as the Regional District does not have the legal authority to require these; and
• Introducing new exemptions for in-stream works approved under the Water Sustainability Act and for works undertaken in relation to an emergency event (i.e. emergency flood or protection works).