A marathon meeting that attracted more than the usual number of attendees may signify a sea change in rural areas.
Powell River Regional District officials sensed the urgency many residents are experiencing about the draft official community plan (OCP) for Areas B and C, south of town. They decided to hold a special planning committee meeting to deal just with it. Directors attempted to make their way through the thorny issue of land use designations and inconsistent uses throughout the area in a room packed with about 50 people, many of them angry and frustrated.
The lack of zoning bylaws in the area has created a situation where businesses can, and do, legally establish operations on property that is not designated for that type of business. This means businesses can move into an area and directly affect neighbouring homes. Businesses can impact water supplies, create noise and pollution, and increase traffic, while residents are powerless, unable to protect either their investments or quality of life.
Far from picking on businesses, concerns raised about the lack of regulations point to the need for residents to have a mechanism that gives them a voice in this unruly state of affairs. That mechanism is local government, but in Powell River, most elected officials in rural areas have long held the view that less government is good government and residents in electoral areas don’t want rules or regulations.
That view may be held by some residents, but others see how the lack of regulations has a deleterious impact on their lives.
When people who are negatively impacted by the lack of regulations turn to their local government for assistance, they are turned away, because the regional district can in fact do nothing about businesses that ignore land use designations. Even if a zoning bylaw was brought in sometime in the future, it could not be retroactive.
The OCP review has highlighted land use problems that exist south of town and what needs to be done to ensure residential values receive some protection. This is an issue that is not going to disappear.
