WHEREAS in the context of Board of Variance decisions rendered seemingly unassailable by the applicable legislation and case law, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities UBCM passed Resolution A14 at its 1996 Annual General Meeting and Resolution C9 at its 1998 Annual General Meeting, requesting that the Province of British Columbia amend the legislation to permit a council or citizen to appeal the substantive merits of a decision of a Board of Variance; AND WHEREAS the Province of British Columbia has committed that this land use issue should be considered in the context of the proposal of the Minister to work with the UBCM on the development of a multi-year plan for the establishment of a new legislative foundation for local government: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM petition the provincial government to amend the Local Government Act provisions regarding Boards of Variance, to circumscribe the scope of powers of Boards of Variance, and to provide for an adequate course of appeal for both citizens and local government councils.
Ministry of Community Services In addition to the past resolutions cited in the preamble to this resolution, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities UBCM has passed resolutions related to boards of variance in 1996 B59, 1998 C10, 1999 B23 and 2000 B38. There was a full UBCM discussion of the role and membership of boards of variance in 2000. The Province of British Columbia Province responded positively to the 2000 resolution B38 which requested discontinuance of provincial appointments. While there are a variety of other concerns, there does not appear to be a consensus regarding how they should be dealt with and the perspective of some local governments conflicts with that of others. This current resolution does not indicate what limitations local governments would like to see put on the role of boards of variance, nor what type of appeal system would be considered appropriate e.g., who could make an appeal, who should hear the appeals, what types of decisions could be appealed, and what could form the basis for an appeal. The Ministry of Community Services would need a better understanding of what the UBCM considers the objective of the legislative reform should be in order to review this issue.