Lawyers

Bill graduated from UBC Law School in 1990 and joined the firm in 1991. He was a partner in the firm from 1996 to 2019 and is currently associate counsel.

Bill has an M.A. in Community and Regional Planning from UBC and worked in rural, city and regional planning in Alberta and BC before attending law school. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the Canadian Institute of Planners and a member of the Planning Institute of BC. He has been extensively involved in professional development activities for planners, including frequent seminars sponsored by the Simon Fraser University City Program, where he is an Associate Member of Continuing Studies, and by PIBC's regional chapters. He teaches the required planning law courses at the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia and in the Masters of Community Planning program at Vancouver Island University. Bill is the author of the 'Planning and Zoning' title in Halsbury's Laws of Canada, published in 2008, and British Columbia Planning Law and Practice, a legal practice manual for planners published by Butterworths in 2001 and updated frequently. He is also the author of Local Government: A British Columbia Legal Handbook, published by the BC Continuing Legal Education Society. Bill’s practice focuses on land use and planning law, building regulation, aboriginal law matters and opinions on a broad range of local government issues. He served on the executive of both the Municipal Law Section of the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association and the CBA's National Municipal Law Section.

In 2011 Bill was awarded the Local Government Management Association’s Distinguished Partnership Award for his ongoing contribution to the work of LGMA’s Approving Officers Committee. His outstanding support and commitment to LGMA’s spirit of volunteerism were recognized again in 2017 with LGMA’s President’s Award.

Recent Presentations

• Making Sense of the Provincial Housing Legislation (Local Government Leadership Academy, Richmond, February 1, 2024)
  
• Planning Law Update (with Guy Patterson) (Planning Institute of B.C. Okanagan Chapter, Penticton, September 22, 2023)
  
• Professionalism & Ethics for Planners (with Linda Adams) (Planning Institute of B.C. Annual Conference, Sun Peaks, June 1, 2023)
  
• Development Cost Charges and Community Amenity Contributions (with Dan Huang) (Government Finance Officers Association, Vancouver, November 14, 2022)
• Planning Law Update (with Guy Patterson) (Planning Institute of B.C. Okanagan Chapter, Penticton, June 16, 2022)
  
• Floodplain Bylaws (Planning Institute of B.C. Annual Conference, Whistler, June 16, 2021)
  
• Planning Law Update (with Guy Patterson) (Planning Institute of B.C. Okanagan Chapter, Penticton, June 21, 2019)
• Legal Update (with Guy Patterson) (Local Government Managers Association Approving Officers Seminar, Vancouver, June 11, 2019)
• Development Cost Charges (Government Finance Officers Association, Victoria, May 27, 2019)
• Enforcement: The Pointy End of Regulation (with Guy Patterson and Elizabeth Anderson) (The Land Summit, Vancouver, May 8, 2019)
• Financing Urban Growth: Development Cost Charges and Community Amenity Contributions (Simon Fraser University City Program, April 4, 2019)
• Planning and Zoning Law Refresher (with Guy Patterson) (Simon Fraser University City Program, Vancouver, March 14, 2019)
• Temporary Use Permits: Part of Your Game Plan? (Planning Institute of B.C. Annual Conference, Victoria, May 31, 2018)
• Development Finance 404 (Government Finance Officers Association of B.C., Kelowna, May 30, 2018)
• Legal Update (with Guy Patterson) (Local Government Management Association Approving Officers Seminar, Victoria, May 15, 2018)
• Planning Law Update (with Alyssa Bradley) (Planning Institute of B.C. North Island Chapter, Nanaimo, March 22, 2018)
• Legalizing Cannabis: Policy Issues for Local Government Officials (Local Government Leadership Academy, Richmond, February 2, 2018)
• Planning and Zoning Law Refresher (with Guy Patterson) (Simon Fraser University City Program, Vancouver, November 23, 2017)
• Planning and Development: Managing Ephemeral Land Uses (Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C., Vancouver, November 23, 2017)
• Legal Update (Association of Regional District Planning Managers, Victoria, October 26, 2017)
• Inclusionary Zoning in B.C. – Is It Time? ( Planning Institute of B.C. Conference, Prince George, June 2, 2017)
• Basic Tools for Managing Subdivision (Local Government Management Association Approving Officers Seminar, Penticton, May 16, 2017)
• Legal Update Seminar (with Alyssa Bradley) (Planning Institute of B.C. North Island Chapter, Nanaimo, May 4, 2017)
• Big Ideas in B.C. Planning Law (MATI Municipal Law Course, Capilano University, North Vancouver, April 1, 2017)
• Development Cost Charges Panel (Municipal Engineers Committee, APEGBC, Vancouver, March 31, 2017)
• Legal Update Seminar (Planning Institute of B.C. North Island Chapter, Courtenay, October 13, 2016)
• Section 5 of the Building Act – Building a Better BC (Canadian Bar Association Webinar, Vancouver, September 21, 2016)
• Land Use Regulation in Vancouver (School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, UBC, August 4, 2016)
• Exotic Subdivisions (Local Government Management Association Approving Officers Seminar, Nanaimo, June 21, 2016)
• Epic Planning Blunders: Navigating the Legal Minefield (Planning Institute of B.C. Conference, Kelowna, May 12, 2016)
• Staying Within the Lines: Professionalism and Ethics for Planners (Planning Institute of B.C. Conference, Kelowna, May 11, 2016)
• Board of Variance Seminar (Local Government Management Association, Richmond, May 4, 2016)
• Big Ideas in BC Planning Law (MATI Municipal Law Course, Capilano University, North Vancouver, April 2, 2016)
• Building Act: Local Building Requirements (Canadian Bar Association Municipal Law Section, Vancouver, February 19, 2016)
• Legal Seminar (Planning Institute of BC Sunshine Coast Chapter, Gibsons, January 22, 2016)

Publications

• ‘B.C.’s Housing Supply Legislation: All Hands on Deck’, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, January 2024
• Local Government: A British Columbia Legal Handbook, Continuing Legal Education Society, Ninth Edition, 2022. This book can be purchased at: http://www.cle.bc.ca/onlinesto...
  
• 'Rental Housing Initiatives on Canada’s West Coast’ (with Julia Tikhonova), Municipal Lawyer, November/December 2021 Volume 62 No 6.
• ‘Seawalls and Strata Lots: Recent Property Rights Cases from British Columbia’, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, July 2021.
• 'Planning and Zoning', Halsbury’s Laws of Canada, LexisNexis Canada, 2021. More information: www.lexisnexis.ca/bookstore
• ‘British Columbia’s Rental Zoning Innovation’, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, December 2018.
• ‘Zoning for Rental Tenure: Addressing housing affordability challenges in British Columbia’, Municipal World, November 2018.
• Board of Variance Guide, Local Government Management Association of B.C., 2017. This guide can be purchased at: https://members.lgma.ca/lgma-m...
  
• Voices of Reason: Reading Canadian Planners', Plan Canada, Fall 2012, Volume 52 No.3
• 'British Columbia Local Governments and Climate Change', Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, November 2008.
• ‘Phased Development Agreements in British Columbia: The Return of Contract Zoning’, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, October 2007, Vol. 12 Issue 10.
• ‘Canadian Pacific Railway Co. v. Vancouver – A Very High Bar for Regulatory Takings?’, Municipal Lawyer, November/December 2006, Volume 47 No. 6.
• ‘The Islands Trust: 30 Years of Protecting B.C.’s Gulf Islands’, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, March 2005, Vol. 10 Issue 3.
• British Columbia Planning Law and Practice, Butterworths, 2001 (updated semi-annually). More information: www.lexisnexis.ca/bookstore
• 'Renovating Local Government Enabling Legislation: B.C.'s Community Charter', Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, November 2003, Vol. 8 Issue 11.
• 'Musings on Metalclad, NAFTA and Land Use Planning', Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, August 2001, Vol. 6 Issue 8.
• Real Estate Development Practice Manual, Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C. (contributing author).