Purpose of the rezoning and Official Community Plan amendment bylaws:
In 2014, the provincial government amended the Local Government Act to terminate all land use contracts as of June 30, 2024. Local governments are required to have zoning bylaws in place by June 30, 2022 that will apply to the land once the land use contracts are terminated. Once land use contracts are terminated, only the zoning will apply.
This will result in non-conforming uses, as the underlying zoning for Lillooet Lake Estates and Heather Jean Properties is Rural 1 (RR1) - which does not allow for the level of development currently on the property. Under this non-conforming situation, if a fire were to occur there would be no opportunity to rebuild. To address the provincial requirements and non-conforming situation of the current underlying zoning, SLRD staff are proposing zoning amendments for Lillooet Lake Estates and Heather Jean Properties. Additionally, the communities are located in a geologically active area, therefor SLRD staff are also proposing the creation of a Debris Flow Hazard Development Permit Area to protect developments in these two communities from well documented natural hazards.
The key purpose of the zoning amendments is to address the provincial requirements for land use contract termination and the non-conforming situation of the current underlying zoning. The zoning amendments will replace the underlying Rural 1 zone with a zone that reflects the development in the two communities. For clarity, only minor changes to what is currently provided for under LUC 88 will be contemplated under these staff-initiated projects. Uses such as lodge, and commercial and industrial uses have been removed from the zoning as these are not deemed appropriate given the current geohazard risk.
Additionally, the SLRD is not proposing to discharge LUC 88. Rather the new zoning will address the non-conforming issue of the current zoning, and once the land use contracts terminate in 2024, the new zoning will be the land use regulation in place. The proposed zoning will apply to the 152 sites that comprise Lillooet Lake Estates and the 18 sites that comprise Heather Jean Properties.
A Public Hearing has been scheduled for Thursday October 27, 2022 at 7pm with Electoral Area C Director Russell Mack chairing the meeting as a delegate of the SLRD Board. The meeting will be held electronically via Zoom video conferencing. Details for logging into the public hearing will be published 3 days prior to the meeting on the SLRD Notices page.
For more information about this bylaw, contact the SLRD planning department:
planning@slrd.bc.ca