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Bylaw 1248: Delegation of Approval Authority to the Director of Planning and Community Services |
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is an amending bylaw that was adopted by Council on September 13, 2010 which amends the existing Development Procedures By-Law No. 1119. The Development Procedures By-Law No. 1119 was adopted by Council in 2006 and establishes procedures for processing amendments to the OCP, the Zoning Bylaw, land use contracts; and for the issuance of development permits, development variance permits and temporary commercial or industrial permits. Bylaw 1248 delegates the authority to the Director of Planning and Community Services to process and approve or deny Wildfire Hazard development permits.
The amendment is procedural in content and intends to streamline development application processing. It does not have any affect on permitted land uses. |
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| 2. |
Wildfire Protection |
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Council is reviewing the Wildfire Hazard Development Permit Area No. 3 (DPA3) presently designated in the 2007 Official Community Plan (OCP) which applies to all development within the designated area. DPA3 contains guidelines which provide direction for the actions or reports required for proposed developments.
Wildfire hazard planning became a provincial government initiative after the horrendous 2003 Kelowna fires. Such zones are intended to protect health and safety of residents and prevent property destruction and damage. North Saanich has an extensive tree canopy with interface dangers between housing and forested land. We are reviewing and updating the boundaries of the 2007 OCP Wildfire Hazard areas with the assistance of a forestry consultant who has broad experience in developing plans for municipalities. Concurrently we are undertaking consultation and information sessions with our residents, beginning with the open house on November 30, 2010. A further open house will be scheduled in the near future. |
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| 3. |
Bylaw 935 |
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The Tree Protection Bylaw was adopted in 1999 and was amended in 2002 and 2007. In September 2009 an open house was held to consider further revisions. This work is ongoing. |
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| 4. |
Bylaw 1245 |
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Draft amendment Bylaw No. 1245 provides for some revisions to the OCP for both Shoal Harbour and the Wildfire Hazard development permit area. While these two issues are distinct they were addressed in the same amendment for convenience. The amendment to Development Permit Area 3 - Wildfire Hazard would exempt properties from the requirement to provide a wildfire interface hazard assessment provided that specific conditions were met, for example, non-combustible roofing standards and spark arrestors. The Shoal Harbour OCP amendment is being considered to provide a greater awareness of the Shoal Harbour Migratory Bird sanctuary |
