By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Local politicians are already divided over a proposal to prohibit the development of private water and sewer systems.
The Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) board members got their first look at a proposal to change their bylaws to prohibit the development of new private water and sewer systems on August 15.
The RDOS has been looking at this issue since October 2023, when the Planning and Development Committee moved to initiate proposed amendments to the regulation of new private utility systems.
Ben Kent, Planner II with the RDOS explained that currently the Regional Growth Strategy “encourages publicly operated utilities and discourages the establishment of private utilities and services . . . However this strategic policy direction in the long range policy documents has not been implemented at the regulatory level in any of the regional districts’ land use regulatory bylaws.”
Multiple factors motivated the RDOS to seek this change, which will be explained below, but RDOS staff saw “strong rationale for the board to regulate in favour of publicly operated utility systems versus those operated by business or strata corporations or other private utilities.”
The proposed changes are mostly to establish stronger language and definitions of community water and sewer systems. They would no longer discourage private systems but prohibit them.
The current proposal does not involve the RDOS taking over all of the private utility systems already in operation, but establishes a prohibition on the creation of new ones. Acquisition of systems could come later if the board choose to go that direction afterward.
If this were to pass, a Development Variance Permit (DVP) could be applied for to create or expand existing private systems, but they would require a “Utility Condition Assessment” from a certified engineer that guarantees the system is up to the standards set in the RDOS Subdivision Servicing Bylaw.
The board decided to delay the vote until September for staff to come back to the board with more information specifically on resourcing and more clarity on the proposal.
There were conflicting positions expressed in the meeting ranging from some directors completely embracing the proposal and others thinking it is completely the wrong direction for the RDOS to go.
Bob Coyne, director of Area “H” (rural Princeton) commented “I dont think we are ready for this type of thing.”
He continued to say that it would be “really wrong to proceed with this” as there are thousands of systems in the area.
“How in god’s name would we ever even begin to understand the size and scope of this? . . . I know this isn’t going to include the ones at present that are already licensed, but we don’t even know how many of them are out there.”
Meanwhile, Subrina Monteith, director of Area “I” which includes Kaleden commented that “Area “I” is all in, this is important to us, we had a whole series of these bareland stratas, and the community is concerned”.
Matthew Taylor, director of Area “D” and Adrienne Fedrigo, director of Area “E” both questioned why this proposal was being led by the Planning Department and not the Utilities Department.
Taylor went on to say that they have “half a deck” since the utilities department was not at the table.
As a result of these varied positions Riley Gettens, director of Area “F” thought that it may be better to take an area-by-area approach rather than a regional approach to the problem.
Rick Knodel, director of Area “C” rural Oliver, noted that because “we dont see a lot of growth potential in Area C that would require mandating this” he is in agreement with Gettens that a more nuanced approach may be better than a regional one.
Kent explained that there were a few motivating factors behind why the RDOS was moving in this direction.
First, in June 2021, there was a referendum that was defeated in Kaleden around a Sanitary Sewer Extension project.
After the defeat, “there was in quick succession a number of subdivision referrals submitted to the Regional District from the Ministry of Transportation, all proposing small lot strata subdivisions with privately owned strata sewer systems,” Kent explained.
In response to this proliferation of small lot subdivision proposals with private community systems there was a motion from the APC (Advisory Planning Commission) requesting the RDOS board formally review the Bareland Strata Bylaws particularly concerning properties not serviced by sewer.
Staff said in May 2022 that the RDOS does not have a “bareland strata bylaw” but recommended that a “Kaleden Zone review” be considered.
The second motivating factor was the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) and their “1.0 ha policy”. This policy sets a 1.0 ha minimum parcel size for septic. This is in line with the provinces recommendation with the aim to forestall the creation of small parcels dependant on septic for wastewater.
In a formal statement to the RDOS that they provided in their report, the OBWB explained that “the current OBWB 1.0 ha policy does not address private utilities. This policy is under review and will address this issue in the near future.
“Most local government’s in the Okanagan define “Community Sewer” as those systems owned, operated and maintained by the local governments. We recommend that local governments do not authorize new private wastewater systems.”
The third motivating factor was based on an increase in requests for the RDOS to take over failing utility systems, such as the Skaha sewer system, Sage Mesa system northwest of Penticton, Willowbrook, and most notably Heritage Hills on the east side of Skaha lake.
