OCP and land use bylaws presented to public

After over two years of bitterness and acrimony coming from both sides of the struggle for protection of lands and land ownership in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area, a solution may be close at hand.

The issue has been the way the voting structure was carried out in regard to land use in the electoral area and also to what some saw as restrictive and illegal bylaws.

Just this month, the courts again ruled a number of bylaws be quashed and the voting arrangement illegal and, in turn, the Capital Regional District voted to go no further in the appeals process.

All of this has been in reaction to the Ministry of Forests allowing Western Forest Products to remove thousands of hectares of land from their Tree Farm Licences in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area.

The solution may well rest in the Juan de Fuca Resource Lands Official Community Plan and Land Use Bylaw (CRD Bylaw No. 3602).

The future of some of the lands in the Jordan River area is uncertain but it has been reported that the province will not be buying any waterfront lands from WFP.

At a meeting on September 21, JDFEA residents got a chance to see what is being planned by the planners and the land use committees.

“When the province released the lands, we needed to fill the void,” said Bob Lapham, the general manager of Planning and Protective Services for the CRD. “We had a 120 hectare minimum but no land use framework.”

He said the OCP for the Rural Resource Lands will set the policy and outline the general guidelines and objectives. There will be four major land use designations which include Resource Lands (RL), Gordon River Recreation (GR), Agriculture Land (AG)-ALR Land and Water Supply Area (W). Included as well are the regional, provincial and federal park lands.

“The fundamental premise of the OCP is to see the protection of Rural Resource Lands, wilderness and recreation,” said June Klassen, planner for the JDFEA. “We don’t see settlement.”

Lapham said the CRD is not promoting the release of any forestry lands, settlement or new towns in the 132,000 hectares rural resource land. Developer Ender Ilkay has outlined plans for an RV site and lodge as well as a cabins on property he has purchased close to the Juan de Fuca Trail.

Klassen said there will still be the 120 ha. minimum but the difference will be in the land use and they will look at rezoning applications which are near roads or existing settlement areas. The minimum lot sizes in these cases could be as small as two hectares. Klassen said protection will come through ownership or covenant and there will be a provision for tourism.

“We will identify those things that need to be protected,” she said.

These issues will be looked at during the second reading. The third reading is expected in October with a public hearing in November. A report will be made to the CRD Board in December and there is the likelihood of adoption in January or February 2010.

On September 22, JDFEA Director Mike Hicks said he had met with Bill Bennett, Minister of Community and Rural Development, and was told there would be no Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act (MEVA) granted to the CRD. The MEVA would have retroactively overridden the two prior court decisions.

“He said he won’t look at MEVA for the disputed bylaws,” said Hicks.

Hicks did say there would be discussions with Bob Lapham and the ministry staff. They would be looking at the pros and cons of the possibility of MEVA on the Official Community Plan and the base bylaws.

Also in the very near future will be a look at the OCPs of areas outside the Rural Resource Lands – Otter Point, Shirley/Jordan River, and East Sooke.

Draft copies of the CRD Bylaw No. 3602 (Bylaw for the Rural Resource Lands) and Bylaw No. 3591 (bylaw to establish an OCP for the Rural Resource Lands) are available for viewing and download at: www.crd.bc.c.a/jdf/openhouse.