On November 3, 2021, Bill 26 received third reading by B.C.’s legislature and portions of Bill 26 relating to public hearings and delegating to staff the authority to issue development variance permits came into force on November 25, 2021. By an Order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council dated January 31, 2022, most of the remaining amendments in Bill 26 became law on February 28, 2022.
UPDATE: Since this article was published, the amendments discussed received Royal Assent and are now the law. Please note, that this article focuses on amendments affecting the construction industry. For a more fulsome review of the amendments in Bill 26, please see here.
On November 3, 2021, Bill 26 received third reading by B.C.’s legislature. The Bill seeks to amend the Local Government Act by removing the default public hearing requirement for zoning amendment bylaws that are consistent with an official community plan and enabling local governments to delegate decisions on minor development variance permits. The purpose of the proposed legislative amendments is to give local governments more powers to simplify and accelerate their development approvals processes to increase the housing supply.
As published in the NRCA’s Northern Construction Connection December 2021 Newsletter, and VICA’s e-New.