Gambier, Keats and the Associated Islands: the bylaw audit

8 findings: 2 in bylaws not yet adopted, 6 in bylaws in force. Read on 2026-09-19. Every quotation is a link to the words themselves.

One local trust committee makes the bylaws for several islands, and each island group has its own pair. Gambier Island: Official Community Plan No. 73 and Land Use Bylaw No. 86. Keats Island: plan No. 77 and Land Use Bylaw No. 78. The Gambier Associated Islands (Anvil, Pasley, the Thormanbys and others): plan No. 109 and Land Use Bylaw No. 120. Bowyer and Passage Islands: Land Use Bylaw No. 114. Every finding below says which island it is about.

The bylaws, and where each one stands

  • Bylaw 163 (not yet adopted). GAMBIER ISLAND. Amends Official Community Plan No. 73: adds a historical and cultural context, reconciliation objectives and policies, and brings two district lots into the plan area. Read a first time, as amended by resolution, on 21 July 2026 (draft minutes, page 5). Still needs referrals, second reading, a public hearing, third reading, the Executive Committee, the Minister, and adoption. The draft the committee amended is at package pages 104 to 108. The amended text has not been published.
  • Bylaw draft shoreline development permit area (not yet adopted). GAMBIER ISLAND. A draft, not yet a bylaw and with no number. It would require a permit for building and land alteration within 30 metres of the sea and over the water. Community meetings were held on 30 July, 4 August and 5 August 2026 and a survey ran to the end of August. Staff will report to the committee elected this autumn, in November 2026 (package page 103).
  • Bylaw 162 and 161 (in force). WHOLE TRUST AREA, procedural. Public Notification Bylaw No. 162 and Meeting Procedures Repeal Bylaw No. 161 were adopted on 26 May 2026 (minutes at package pages 8 and 9). Not land use bylaws. Not audited.
  • Bylaw 78 (in force). KEATS ISLAND Land Use Bylaw. Republished 19 December 2025 to take in Bylaw 154, adopted 9 September 2025, which cut dock float sizes and ramp widths, widened dock setbacks, limited what may be built within 7.5 metres of the sea and added shoreline permit guidelines (section 9.3).
  • Bylaw 77 (in force). KEATS ISLAND Official Community Plan. Republished 19 December 2025 to take in Bylaw 153, adopted 9 September 2025, which designated the Shoreline Development Permit Area: 15 metres upland and 100 metres seaward of the natural boundary.
  • Bylaw 86 (in force). GAMBIER ISLAND Land Use Bylaw. In force, consolidated 17 December 2019. Not in our library. Part of the review that produced Bylaw 163, but no amendment to it has had a reading.
  • Gambier Island Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 73 (in force). GAMBIER ISLAND Official Community Plan. In force. Proposed Bylaw 163 would amend it.
  • Gambier Associated Islands Land Use Bylaw No. 120 (in force). GAMBIER ASSOCIATED ISLANDS Land Use Bylaw. In force. Nothing in progress.
  • Bylaw 109 (in force). GAMBIER ASSOCIATED ISLANDS Official Community Plan. In force. Downloaded, not read.
  • Bylaw 114 (in force). BOWYER AND PASSAGE ISLANDS Land Use Bylaw. In force, consolidated 1 November 2022. Nothing in progress.

Correspondence Tony Aly reported sending

Tony confirmed sending the following letter on 3 October 2026. The text shown is the version we supplied for sending, with URLs written out for plain-text email. We have not independently verified the exact transmitted copy or received a response to this letter.

Gambier Bylaw 163 – two community plans may apply to the same lots

Reported sent:
To: northinfo@islandstrust.bc.ca

Read the prepared letter
Dear Gambier Island Local Trust Committee,

Please publish the exact text of Bylaw 163 as amended and read a first time on July 21, and confirm its current stage. The version we could read brings District Lot 5925 and part of District Lot 477 into OCP Bylaw 73, but leaves in place the clause preserving the 1976 plan for those same lots. It does not amend the relevant map or schedule. On its face, the old-plan exception appears to remain in force while the newer plan expands to the same land; please explain the intended legal effect. The audit supplies the clauses (https://abolishislandstrust.org/bylaw-audit/gambier). It also notes a drafting error in the archaeological-site sentence, subject to confirmation against the unpublished amended text.

The heritage and reconciliation objectives should have a coherent legal instrument. Please reconcile the repeal and area clauses, update any affected map, and publish the revised bylaw before further readings. Please identify whether the amended first-reading text already addresses these points.

Sincerely,
Tony Aly

A letter you can send

Bylaw 163 received first reading in July 2026. Its amended first-reading text has not been published in the documents reviewed for this audit; ask the committee to confirm its current stage before relying on this draft.

To: the Gambier Island Local Trust Committee
Subject: Gambier Island proposed Bylaw No. 163: overlapping community plans

To the Gambier Island Local Trust Committee,

I am writing about proposed Gambier Island OCP Bylaw 163. Please publish the amended first-reading text and confirm its current stage. [Say here whether you own, rent or live on Gambier, Keats and the Associated Islands, and where.]

These are the points that concern me:

- Gambier Island: Bylaw 163 brings District Lot 5925 and part of District Lot 477 into Plan 73, and leaves in force the clause that keeps the 1976 plan alive for those same lots.
- Gambier Island: the draft of Bylaw 163 says a person mush have a provincial heritage permit to alter or develop with an archaeological site, and the eight corrections made at first reading did not include it.

The words of the bylaw behind each point are quoted, with a link to the place they can be read, at https://abolishislandstrust.org/bylaw-audit/gambier

Please reconcile the clause extending OCP Bylaw 73 to the two district lots with the clause that preserves the 1976 plan for those same lots. Please update the affected map or schedule and correct the archaeological-site sentence in the operative text. If the amended text already resolves these points, please identify it.

Yours respectfully,
[Your name]
[Your address on Gambier, Keats and the Associated Islands, or your interest in the trust area]

Open an email to northinfo@islandstrust.bc.ca

Change anything you do not agree with, and say who you are and where you live or own land. A few sentences in your own words are worth more than ours.

In bylaws not yet adopted

These can still be fixed.

Two rules that cannot both be obeyed · in a bylaw not yet adopted

Gambier Island: Bylaw 163 brings District Lot 5925 and part of District Lot 477 into Plan 73, and leaves in force the clause that keeps the 1976 plan alive for those same lots.

When Plan 73 was adopted it left these lots out of its area, and its repeal clause repealed the old plan, Bylaw No. 110, 1976, except as it applies to them. Bylaw 163 clause 2.3 strikes the exception from the description of the plan area. It does not touch the repeal clause, does not repeal Bylaw 110, and amends no map or schedule. If adopted as drafted, the two lots would be inside Plan 73 while Bylaw 110 still applied to them, and nothing in Bylaw 163 gives them a land use designation.

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw not yet adopted

Gambier Island: the draft of Bylaw 163 says a person mush have a provincial heritage permit to alter or develop with an archaeological site, and the eight corrections made at first reading did not include it.

The committee amended the draft by resolution in eight places on 21 July 2026 and then read it a first time. One of the eight fixed a missing word in clause 2.2. The sentence on archaeological sites was not among them. The sentence also says any person wishing to undertake any land-altering activities must have a permit, which is wider than the words that follow it. The amended text has not been published, so this is checked against the draft and the resolution.

In bylaws in force

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

Keats Island: the new shared dock limit is printed as 154 square metres (1,130.2 square feet). 154 square metres is about 1,658 square feet, and 1,130.2 square feet is 105 square metres.

Bylaw 154 put this pair of numbers into the CR1, RR, RC, PI2 and M2(a) rules. The other conversions in the same clauses are right (47 square metres is 505.9 square feet, 30 is 322.9). Section 1.2 says imperial figures are approximate and are not part of the bylaw, so the metric figure governs. An owner sizing a shared float in feet would build it a third smaller than the bylaw allows. In the PI2 zone the same clause opens with two Despites, the second naming the CR1 zone's subsection.

A reference to something that does not exist · in a bylaw in force

Gambier Island: Plan 73 requires an environmental report prepared under Subsection 5 Guidelines of section 9.3 of Land Use Bylaw 86. Section 9.3 has four subsections, and the Guidelines are subsection (4).

Plan section 12.3.2(c) tells an owner in a riparian area which guidelines the required report must follow. Articles (k) to (r) exist, inside subsection (4). The auditor reported this reference as a missing Part 9 of the plan. It is a reference to the other bylaw, and the fault is the subsection number.

A reference to something that does not exist · in a bylaw in force

Bowyer and Passage Islands: the one-dock rule allows more docks where permitted by subsection 5.6(7). Section 5.6 ends at subsection (6).

Section 5.6(2) limits each upland lot in the Marine General zone to one dock unless additional docks are permitted by subsection 5.6(7). The site-specific table that allows more docks for two named estates is subsection (6). There is no (7).

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

Keats Island: the Private Institutional 2 zone is section 4.6, and five of its rules point at section 4.7, which is the Private Conservation zone and stops at subsection 8.

Within section 4.6, rule .7 exempts wharf cranes from the height restrictions in subsection 4.7.6, rule .10 is despite Subsection 4.7.9, rule .12 despite 4.7.11, rule .25 despite 4.7.24 and rule .26 refers to 4.7.25. Section 4.7 has subsections .1 to .8. Its 4.7.6 is the 5.0 metre height limit for structures in the conservation zone. The rules meant are 4.6.6, 4.6.9, 4.6.11, 4.6.24 and 4.6.25. These are the density and subdivision rules for the camp lands. Bylaw 154, adopted in September 2025, amended this section, called it 4.6, and left the references as they were.

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

Gambier Island, the Associated Islands, and Bowyer and Passage: three land use bylaws head their residence for a relative rule Section 946 Subdivisions. In the Local Government Act published today that provision is section 514.

BC Laws publishes the Local Government Act, RSBC 2015, c. 1, and 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 bylaw, as the Trust publishes it, says Section 514. Bylaw 86 was consolidated in 2019 and Bylaw 114 in 2022 with the old number still in the heading. The rule itself in each bylaw says pursuant to the Local Government Act, so the rule still works. The heading sends a reader to a section number that is no longer there.

What the Trust has published · in a bylaw in force

Keats Island: in the consolidation the Trust published on 19 December 2025, riparian guidelines (f) and (h) are leftover fragments of (e) and (g), and the cover does not list the amending bylaw the consolidation was made for.

Guideline (f) begins t. Monitoring and repeats the last sentence of (e). Guideline (h) reads, in full, plicant's expense and development permit conditions may be amended accordingly, the tail of (g). Looked at on the rendered page: it is printed this way. The cover of the land use bylaw lists amending bylaws up to 158 and the cover of the plan lists 112 and 129, while the tables on page 2 add Bylaw 154 and Bylaw 153, adopted 9 September 2025. No margin note marks what those two bylaws changed, as the notes do for Bylaws 130, 143, 152 and 158. Both enacting pages spell the committee COMMITEE.

What we checked and found sound

  • 2026 meeting documents for the Gambier Local Trust Area: minutes of 27 January, 26 May, 21 July, 30 July, 4 August and 5 August 2026 and the agenda packages of 26 May and 21 July. Bylaw 163 and the draft shoreline permit area are the only land use measures in progress. Both concern Gambier Island only.
  • What changed in the Keats bylaws listed 19 December 2025: found in the 9 September 2025 agenda package (pages 74 to 88) and minutes (page 6). Bylaws 153 and 154 were adopted that day after Executive Committee and ministerial approval. The consolidation was compared with Bylaw 154's clauses for the dock rules and they were carried in as adopted, including the wrong square-foot figure.
  • Gambier Associated Islands Land Use Bylaw 120: all 35 cross-references read beside their targets with the auditor's --all listing. All land on the right subject. The library copy matches the SHA-256 of what the Trust serves today.
  • Gambier Island plan 73: the auditor's one lead is a reference to Bylaw 86, not to the plan, and is recorded above for the subsection number. The library copy matches what the Trust serves.
  • A rough cross-reference check (.tmp-probe/audit-hgbb-xref.mjs) was run over Bylaws 86, 78 and 114 and plans 77 and 109. Bylaw 86 has almost no numbered cross-references. Bowyer and Passage 114 gave one lead, confirmed. Keats 78 gave none by that method, because its references exist as numbers. The 4.7 fault was found by reading.
  • Publication: the Trust's listings for Bylaws 86, 78, 77, 109, 114, 120 and 73 each serve the document their title names.
  • Not done: Bylaw 86, plan 109, plan 77 and Bylaw 114 were not read from beginning to end. No plan was compared with its land use bylaw for disagreement. Zoning maps were not opened. Keats Bylaw 153's new plan text was not read.

Open questions

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

  • Gambier Island, Bylaw 163: staff's memorandum of 21 July 2026 (package page 103) offered two next steps, both aiming at first reading on 24 November 2026 after a legal opinion. The committee amended the draft by resolution and read it a first time that day. The text as read has not been published. Someone should ask for it.
  • Gambier Island, draft shoreline permit area: the exemption for farm uses cites Section 2(2), (3), (4) and (5) of the Agricultural Land Reserve Use, Subdivision, and Procedure Regulation (page 3). Hornby's bylaw and our Denman work use the Agricultural Land Reserve Use Regulation, B.C. Reg. 30/2019. We did not confirm that the older regulation is repealed. The draft also refers to Schedule X and Development Permit Area X (page 1), placeholders to be filled before first reading.
  • Gambier Associated Islands, Bylaw 120: the information note under 5.13 Marine Foreshore 2 (M2) describes the purpose of the Marine Service Zone, a different name. Information notes are not part of the bylaw. Three exemptions rely on the Water Act, where Hornby's bylaw relies on the Water Sustainability Act. We did not confirm the repeal on BC Laws.
  • Keats Island, Bylaw 78: the information note opening Part 9 says the permit areas are described in Section 7 of the Keats Island Official Community Plan. The plan is divided into Parts A, B and C, and the permit areas are Part C. Bylaw 154's new section 2.7.3(b) begins Notwithstanding subsection 2.7.3, a reference to itself.
  • Keats, Bowyer and Passage, and the Associated Islands bylaws cite sections 911 and 944 of the Local Government Act and the Ministry of Transportation and Highways. Likely the same staleness as section 946. Not checked one by one.