At their last board meeting, the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) directors approved the Development Approval Procedures and Guidelines Bylaw that would establish new-development approval procedures and guidelines, and impose fees related to land-use applications and meetings.
They also adopted the Development Approval Information Bylaw that established regulations for development-approval information.
CRD Area L Director Bruce Rattray says he believes there was a problem with some “less comprehensive development applications coming and going without people really hearing about them.”
Rattray adds he wanted to get information a little more out in the open so they would be more aware of what’s going on and then they could choose to whether they wanted to get involved.
The new bylaw will provide more information for the public to know what development changes, such as zoning and Official Community Plan (OCP) amendments and variances permits applications are being sought in their neighbourhoods.
This will be done through notification signage, newspaper advertisements, as well as staff posting rezoning information sheets on the Public Hearing and Notice Section of the CRD’s webpage at www.cariboord.bc.ca.
Rattray says this covers off his concern about people not having enough information at the beginning stages of a development application, so they will now be more able to have input during the process.
The bylaw has changed the required distance for mailing out to neighbouring properties from 60 to 100 metres to announce public hearings and application notifications for rezoning and OCP amendment applications, and temporary permits. These will be sent to both the property owners and the tenants.
The same will apply for development variance permits, but will only have a fan-out of 60 metres.
Signage requirements have been updated over the previous development procedures bylaw to provide clearer regulation on required posting times, guidelines and what is required for providing proof of posting or newspaper advertisements.
Staff can cancel a public hearing and charge an administrative fee if the notification signage or advertisements have not been process properly.
The CRD directors can now require public information meetings (PIMs) at any period of time after the first reading and before third reading an application.
Now, there is a procedure detailing how PIMs are to be initiated, fees and how the hearings are to be conducted.
All of these and other procedures will give the public more opportunity to comment on changes in their neighbourhoods.
The two bylaws have also outlined a number of procedure changes and additions to help staff and the board move through the development and land-use processes in a more fluid manner.
It also deals with fees that will help the CRD fairly recover costs of doing business on the new developments and land-use applications.