WHEREAS rural communities acquire brownfield properties through tax sale; AND WHEREAS rural communities continue to lack resources to remediate brownfields: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Province of British Columbia commit to a funding program to assist local governments in remediating brownfield sites acquired through a tax sale.
Ministry of Environment The Province of British Columbia understands the challenges local governments can face through the involuntary acquisition of contaminated sites or brownfields as a result of property owner tax default and the subsequent inability to sell for taxes owing. In recognition of this, the Environmental Management Act EMA provides a statutory exemption from liability to government bodies under these circumstances. Despite the existing liability exemption, the problem of an idle and sometimes contaminated brownfield site remains a problem for local governments that assume ownership of these sites. In recognition of the broader challenges that contaminated sites and brownfield sites can pose, the Environmental Management Amendment Act Bill 13, 2004 provided enabling provisions for a Land Remediation Fund LRF, part of which would be available for the purposes of government programs in relation to brownfield development and orphan site remediation. As part of the Ministry of Environments review initiated in October 2014 of the contaminated sites legislative regime, the Ministry proposes to further assess and consider the potential for implementing a LRF that would provide assistance for brownfields and orphan site assessment and remediation.