Identification of Contaminated Sites – Changes in Store for Local Governments

The Ministry of Environment has extended the period for stakeholder comments on its Intentions Paper regarding Identification of Contaminated Sites http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/air-land-water/site-remediation/docs/requests-for-comments/site_id_intentions_paper.pdf
Comments should be directed to margaret_shaw@shaw.ca.

Local governments and approving officers, including those who have opted out of the contaminated sites identification process under existing legislation, are encouraged to review the Intentions Paper if they have not already done so, to see whether the proposed changes to the site profiles regime warrant comment on their behalf. From a local government perspective the following changes seem particularly significant:

• Local governments and approving officers will no longer be able to opt out of the site identification process
• Subdivision, soil removal, and demolition permit applications will no longer trigger contaminated site identification
• Building permit applications will trigger contaminated site identification
• Zoning amendment, development permit and development variance permit application triggers for contaminated site identification will remain in place
• Compliance with remediation requirements resulting from contaminated site identification will be policed by local governments at the final building inspection or occupancy permit stage of redevelopment

Download pdf: Identification of Contaminated Sites – Changes in Store for Local Governments