Ballenas-Winchelsea Islands: the bylaw audit

4 findings: 4 in bylaws in force. Read on 2026-09-19. Every quotation is a link to the words themselves.

The bylaws, and where each one stands

Ballenas-Winchelsea Land Use Bylaw No. 28 (in force). In force since 16 February 2016. The table of amendments is empty. No amendment is in progress.
Bylaw 27 (in force). Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 27, 2013. In force. A review of the plan and the land use bylaw has sat on the committee's future projects list since 29 June 2022 and has not started (3 June 2026 agenda package, page 29).

In bylaws in force

Two rules that cannot both be obeyed · in a bylaw in force

The bylaw defines a zone as one established by Part 5. The zones are established by Part 4.

Part 4 is headed Establishment of Zones and section 4.1(1) divides the area into zones. Part 5 sets the regulations for each zone. The definition points at the wrong Part.

“means a zone established by Part 5 of this Bylaw”
Read it: Ballenas-Winchelsea Bylaw 28, the definition of “zone”
“is divided into the following zones”
Read it: Ballenas-Winchelsea Bylaw 28, s. 4.1(1)

A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw in force

All five land zones send the park and conservation exemption to subsection 7.2(1)(b), which does not exist. The exemption is 7.1(1)(b).

Sections 5.1(7), 5.2(4), 5.3(4), 5.4(2) and 5.5(2) each set a minimum lot area and then except a lot created for a public park, a conservation area, an ecological reserve or dedication to the Crown, pursuant to subsection 7.2(1)(b). Section 7.2 is Boundary Adjustment Subdivisions. Its subsection (1) is one sentence with no articles. The exemption the zones describe is article (b) of section 7.1(1).

“pursuant to subsection 7.2(1)(b), the lot being created is for a public park”
Read it: Ballenas-Winchelsea Bylaw 28, s. 5.1(7)
“pursuant to subsection 7.2(1)(b), the lot being created is for a public park”
Read it: Ballenas-Winchelsea Bylaw 28, s. 5.5(2)
“(1) A boundary adjustment subdivision that would result in the increase of the area of any lot”
Read it: Ballenas-Winchelsea Bylaw 28, s. 7.2(1)
“(b) the lot being created is for a public park, a conservation area, an ecological reserve or dedication to the Crown”
Read it: Ballenas-Winchelsea Bylaw 28, s. 7.1(1)

A leftover from an older bylaw or a repealed law · in a bylaw in force

Section 7.3 relies on section 946 of the Local Government Act. The residence for a relative provision in the Act published today is section 514.

BC Laws publishes the Local Government Act, RSBC 2015, c. 1. Its section 514 is headed Subdivision to provide residence for a relative (https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/r15001_14#section514). Hornby Island's land use bylaw, as the Trust publishes it, says section 514. This bylaw still has the old number.

“may be subdivided under Section 946 of the Local Government Act”
Read it: Ballenas-Winchelsea Bylaw 28, s. 7.3(1)
“6.5 Section 514 Subdivisions (Residence for a Relative)”
Read it: Hornby Bylaw 150, s. 6.5

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force

The table of contents skips section 6.3, and one subdivision rule reads an average a lot area.

Section 6.3 Height is in the body of Part 6 and missing from the contents, which go from 6.2 to 6.4. The Nature Protection zone's subdivision rule has a stray word, so it is unclear whether 65 hectares is an average or a minimum. The other four zones say a lot area of at least. None of this changes a right today, but it is the same pattern as the wrong cross-reference in all five zones.

“6.2 Prohibited Signs ______________________________________________ 23 6.4 Obsolete Signs”
Read it: page 7 of the Islands Trust’s own document
“6.3 Height”
Read it: Ballenas-Winchelsea Bylaw 28, s. 6.3
“have an average a lot area of at least 65 hectares”
Read it: Ballenas-Winchelsea Bylaw 28, s. 5.5(2)

What we checked and found sound

Read all 35 pages of Land Use Bylaw No. 28 from the library copy. Its SHA-256 matches the PDF the Trust serves today at the listing address.
The auditor's single lead (section 4.04) is false: it is the number 4.047 hectares in section 5.1(2).
All other 13 cross-references land on the right subject (3.5 fences, 3.7 home occupations, 3.6(4), 5.1(5), 2.6 covenants, 3.1).
Every zone named in Part 5, in the sign rules and in section 4.1(1) is in the list of zones. Schedules A, B and C named in the enacting clause are the only schedules the text relies on.
Plan and bylaw agree on density: the plan's policy 3.2.6 says one dwelling per 4 hectares and the bylaw says one per 4.047 hectares. The plan has the Shoreline Development Permit Area the bylaw's information note mentions.
Publication: the Trust's listings for Bylaw 28 and for Official Community Plan Bylaw 27 each serve the document their title names.
2026 meeting documents: a regular meeting agenda of 3 June 2026 and a special (closed) meeting of 21 August 2026. No bylaw had a reading in 2026.

Open questions

Things that looked worth a second reading and that we could not prove. They are not findings.

Section 2.3(1) relies on section 268 of the Local Government Act for the power to enter property. We did not confirm what section 268 of the Act published today deals with. If the bylaw is ever reviewed this number deserves the same check as section 946.
The definition of residence uses the words dwelling unit, which the bylaw does not define. It defines dwelling, single family only. Section 3.7(1) excludes short term vacation rental from home occupations while the defined term is short-term accommodation. Neither was shown to cause a conflict.
The bylaw was read a third time on 14 April 2014, approved by the Executive Committee on 3 June 2014 and adopted on 16 February 2016. Here the Executive Committee is also the local trust committee, so the same body approved its own bylaw. That is how the Islands Trust Act arranges it for these islands. We record it and draw nothing from it.