Hornby Island: the bylaw audit

16 findings: 7 in bylaws not yet adopted, 9 in bylaws in force. Read on 2026-09-20. Every quotation is a link to the words themselves.

Our position: Bylaws 176 and 177 need correction and reconsideration. At the public hearing nine of thirteen speakers opposed them and two asked that the incoming committee decide. Bylaw 177 also proposes live/work units in one zone, a permission we support in principle, but its term and relationship to the housing density cap are unclear. The checkable drafting errors are below.

The bylaws, and where each one stands

  • Bylaw 177 (not yet adopted). Amends Land Use Bylaw No. 150: takes vacation home rental out of the permitted uses of four zones, deletes section 3.7 and makes every vacation rental need a temporary use permit. First reading 9 August 2024, second reading as amended 26 June 2026, public hearing and third reading 1 September 2026. The same day the committee resolved to forward it to the Executive Committee (draft minutes, page 9). As of the September 20 audit, still needed Executive Committee approval and then adoption by the local trust committee, which staff tie to a Trust Council budget decision in March 2027. The text is at package pages 149 to 152. It is part of item 7.2, "Bylaws for approval consideration", on the agenda of the Executive Committee meeting of 23 September 2026 (https://islandstrust.bc.ca/document/executive-committee-regular-meeting-agenda-77/). The September 23 Executive Committee outcome has not been verified here.
  • Bylaw 176 (not yet adopted). Amends Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 149: deletes the plan's vacation home rental article, says the use is permitted through a temporary use permit, adds housing policies. First reading 9 August 2024, second reading 16 May 2025, public hearing and third reading 1 September 2026. The same day the committee resolved to forward it to the Executive Committee and to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (draft minutes, page 9). As of the September 20 audit, still needed both approvals and then adoption. The text is at package pages 146 to 148. It is part of item 7.2, "Bylaws for approval consideration", on the agenda of the Executive Committee meeting of 23 September 2026 (https://islandstrust.bc.ca/document/executive-committee-regular-meeting-agenda-77/). The September 23 Executive Committee outcome has not been verified here.
  • Hornby Island Land Use Bylaw No. 150 (in force). In force. The Trust publishes the consolidation of 22 November 2021. Proposed Bylaw 177 would amend it.
  • Hornby Island Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 149 (in force). In force. Proposed Bylaw 176 would amend it.

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.

Hornby Bylaws 176 and 177 – correct permit rules and preserve clear live/work permissions

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

Read the prepared letter
Dear Hornby Island Local Trust Committee and Executive Committee,

Please confirm the September 23 Executive Committee decision and provide the current text of Bylaws 176 and 177. Our audit of the third-reading text (https://abolishislandstrust.org/bylaw-audit/hornby) found that Bylaw 176 invokes a Schedule 2 absent from its published three pages and renumbers OCP provisions without repairing later references. Bylaw 177 deletes and renumbers Part 3 of the land use bylaw while leaving references that would then lead to the wrong rules. Its vacation-rental bedroom guideline appears to read the opposite of its intended limit. The new PU(a) permission for 24 “live/work units” uses a term the parent bylaw does not define or reconcile with its “live/work studio” definition.

I welcome a clear path for homes and workspaces where appropriate, including live/work use. Please identify the separate approval stages of OCP Bylaw 176 and Land Use Bylaw 177, and put any remaining operative corrections before the appropriate decision maker or explain the corrective amendment route if adopted. Please also explain how the public-hearing submissions were considered. If corrections or decisions have already been made, please point me to the record. This is a records and Executive Committee request, not a new Local Trust Committee hearing submission.

Sincerely,
Tony Aly

A letter you can send to the Executive Committee of the Islands Trust

Bylaws 176 and 177 appeared on the Executive Committee's 23 September 2026 agenda. The decision and any later adoption were not established in our 20 September audit; confirm both before relying on this letter. The third-reading text had the errors cited below.

To: the Executive Committee of the Islands Trust
Subject: Executive Committee approval: Hornby Island proposed Bylaw Nos. 176 and 177

To the Executive Committee of the Islands Trust,

I am writing about proposed Hornby Island Bylaw Nos. 176 and 177, which the Hornby Island Local Trust Committee read a third time on 1 September 2026 and forwarded to the Secretary for your approval. [Say here whether you own, rent or live on Hornby Island, and where.]

These are the points that concern me:

- At the public hearing on 1 September 2026, nine of the thirteen people who spoke opposed Bylaws 176 and 177 and two supported them. The committee read both bylaws a third time the same afternoon.
- Bylaw 177 deletes section 3.7 and renumbers the sections after it, and changes none of the places in Bylaw 150 that cite those sections by number.
- The new bedroom guideline for vacation rentals says a permit should allow more than four bedrooms on a lot of 1.0 hectare or more.
- Bylaw 176 says the plan is amended as per Schedule 1 and Schedule 2. The bylaw read a third time has a Schedule 1 and nothing else.
- Bylaw 176 deletes plan article 6.5.3 and policy 6.5.5.7 and renumbers what follows. The plan's temporary use permit objective still cites Policy 6.5.5.9, and the bylaw's own later clauses still call Home Occupations article 6.5.5.
- Bylaw 177 allows 24 live/work units per lot in the PU(a) zone. Bylaw 150 defines a live/work studio, and defines it as a commercial use.

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/hornby

Please confirm your decision and provide the current text of both bylaws. If approval remains pending, please return them under section 22(1)(b)(ii) with directions to correct these errors and reconsider the public-hearing submissions. If you have approved them, please provide the decision and ask the Hornby committee to address the errors before adoption.

Yours respectfully,
[Your name]
[Your address on Hornby Island, or your interest in the trust area]

Open an email to execadmin@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.

A letter you can send to Hornby Island planning staff

Bylaw 176 amends Hornby’s OCP, so it requires ministerial approval before adoption. The September 1 resolution to forward it does not itself establish that the Minister received it. Ask staff for the actual referral and current text before addressing the Minister.

To: Hornby Island planning staff
Subject: Hornby OCP Bylaw 176 – confirm ministerial referral and operative schedule

To Hornby Island planning staff,

I am writing about Hornby OCP Bylaw 176 and requesting its current approval stage, ministerial referral date, and operative text. [Say here whether you own, rent or live on Hornby Island, and where.]

These are the points that concern me:

- Bylaw 176 says the plan is amended as per Schedule 1 and Schedule 2. The bylaw read a third time has a Schedule 1 and nothing else.
- Bylaw 176 deletes plan article 6.5.3 and policy 6.5.5.7 and renumbers what follows. The plan's temporary use permit objective still cites Policy 6.5.5.9, and the bylaw's own later clauses still call Home Occupations article 6.5.5.

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/hornby

Please confirm whether and when Bylaw 176 was referred to the Minister. The published third-reading text invokes a Schedule 2 that was not attached and renumbers plan provisions without updating later references. Please identify corrected wording or the available corrective process if approval or adoption has occurred.

Yours respectfully,
[Your name]
[Your address on Hornby Island, 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

The new bedroom guideline for vacation rentals says a permit should allow more than four bedrooms on a lot of 1.0 hectare or more.

The words were lifted from section 3.7(1)(d) of Bylaw 150, where they follow shall not be used to accommodate more than, so the negative carries through. In Bylaw 177 the sentence opens a condition should allow no more than, and after the semicolon it reads or more than four bedrooms. On its words the guideline allows what the old rule prohibited.

  • “should allow no more than 2 beds per bedroom and no more than three bedrooms to be used for dwellings on lots less than 1.0 hectare in size; or more than four bedrooms if the lot has an area of 1.0 hectare or more”

    Read it: page 152 of the Islands Trust’s own document

  • “shall not be used to accommodate more than two beds per bedroom or more than three bedrooms if the lot on which the dwelling is located has an area of less than 1.0 hectare, or more than four bedrooms if the lot has an area of 1.0 hectare or more”

    Read it: Hornby Bylaw 150, s. 3.7(1)

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

Bylaw 176 says the plan is amended as per Schedule 1 and Schedule 2. The bylaw read a third time has a Schedule 1 and nothing else.

The bylaw in the 1 September 2026 package is three pages: the enacting page and Schedule 1 on pages marked 2 of 3 and 3 of 3. The next page of the package is Bylaw 177. On 1 September the committee resolved to forward this bylaw to the Executive Committee and the Minister. Its enacting clause relies on a schedule that is not there.

A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw not yet adopted

Bylaw 177 deletes section 3.7 and renumbers the sections after it, and changes none of the places in Bylaw 150 that cite those sections by number.

After the renumbering, 3.8 Secondary Suites becomes 3.7, 3.9 Fences becomes 3.8, 3.10 Screening becomes 3.9 and 3.11 Temporary Dwelling becomes 3.10. The definition of secondary suite will say see Section 3.8, which will be Fences. Home occupation rules 3.6(15) and 3.6(25) require screening pursuant to Section 3.9 and 3.10, which will be Screening and Temporary Dwelling. Bylaw 177 has eleven clauses and none of them touches these references. This is the fault found in Denman's draft Bylaw 264, and here the bylaw has already had third reading.

A reference that lands on the wrong subject · in a bylaw not yet adopted

Bylaw 176 deletes plan article 6.5.3 and policy 6.5.5.7 and renumbers what follows. The plan's temporary use permit objective still cites Policy 6.5.5.9, and the bylaw's own later clauses still call Home Occupations article 6.5.5.

Clause 1.10 deletes article 6.5.3 and renumbers the later articles, so 6.5.5 Home Occupations becomes 6.5.4. Clause 1.12 deletes policy 6.5.5.7 and renumbers the later policies, so today's 6.5.5.9 becomes 6.5.4.8. Objective (8) of section 6.10, which Bylaw 176 does not amend, will go on saying as per Policy 6.5.5.9. Clauses 1.11 and 1.12 themselves come after the renumbering clause and still say article 6.5.5.

A term used and never defined · in a bylaw not yet adopted

Bylaw 177 allows 24 live/work units per lot in the PU(a) zone. Bylaw 150 defines a live/work studio, and defines it as a commercial use.

The new PU(a) rule lists community housing, to a maximum density of 10 units per hectare and 24 live/work units per lot. Live/work unit is not a defined term. The defined term is live/work studio, a commercial use combined with a residential use, which the R3A zone caps at four per lot. The clause does not say whether the 24 units are part of the community housing, are in addition to it, or are the defined studio.

How it was done · in a bylaw not yet adopted

At the public hearing on 1 September 2026, nine of the thirteen people who spoke opposed Bylaws 176 and 177 and two supported them. The committee read both bylaws a third time the same afternoon.

About 68 people attended. By our count of the Islands Trust's own hearing record, nine speakers opposed the bylaws, two supported them, and two were critical without flatly opposing. Two speakers asked that the decision be left to the incoming committee. Several of those opposed said they support regulating vacation rentals and object to the temporary use permit as the tool: one said the committee could refuse a permit without a legal reason, another that there is no data on how much water a renter uses compared with a resident. The hearing closed at 1:43 p.m. The committee then gave both bylaws third reading and forwarded them for approval. The draft minutes record each motion as carried, with no tally and no discussion. People who speak at a hearing are not a poll of the island, and we have not read the written submissions in the hearing binder.

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw not yet adopted

Bylaws 176 and 177 amend the Hornby Island Official Community Plan, 2014 and the Hornby Island Land Use Bylaw, 2014, names neither bylaw has. One clause removes words that are not in the plan, and one amends a section the clause before it renumbered.

Bylaw 149 says it may be cited as the Hornby Island Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 149, 2014 and Bylaw 150 as the Hornby Island Land Use Bylaw No. 150, 2014. The amending bylaws put a different name in quotation marks after the words cited as. In Bylaw 177, clause 1.10 deletes section 10.2 and renumbers the section after it, and clause 1.11 then amends Section 10.3 Guidelines, which by then is 10.2. Small things, recorded because both bylaws are with the Executive Committee now. In Bylaw 176, clause 1.11 removes the words addressed in article 6.5.3 Vacation Home Rental. The plan's sentence reads addressed in Subsection 6.5.3 (Vacation Home Rental).

In bylaws in force

Something left out · in a bylaw in force

Section 7.1 lists the zones the island is divided into. The Residential 3A (R3A) zone has its own section 8.3A and is not in the list.

The list goes from R3 to R4. The sign table in Part 4 also has no R3A. Several names in the list differ from the headings in Part 8: the list calls C1 Service Station Commercial and Part 8 calls it Retail, the list calls C5 Resort and Part 8 calls it Comprehensive Commercial, the list calls EP1 Ecosystem Management and Part 8 calls it Ecosystem Protection.

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

On a lot of 2.0 hectares or more the home occupation list leaves out day care, food processing, welding, trades offices and the other Tier 2 uses that a smaller lot is allowed.

Section 3.6(22) says it includes the uses permitted in the lower tiers, and no other uses. Its list then brings in the uses in subsections 3.6(3) and 3.6(9) only. The Tier 2 list is subsection 3.6(11), and it is not brought in. That (22) repeats teaching classes, which is already in (11), shows the drafter was not relying on (11). Read as written, a 1.5 hectare lot may have a day care or a catering kitchen as a home occupation and a 2.5 hectare lot may not.

  • “including the uses permitted in the lower tiers; and no other uses, are permitted as home occupations on lots of 2.0 hectares or larger: (a) Home occupation uses listed in subsections 3.6(3) and 3.6(9);”

    Read it: Hornby Bylaw 150, s. 3.6(22)

  • “(e) Day care; (f) Manufacture, assembly and repair of goods, including incidental sales; (g) Welding shops, including incidental sales;”

    Read it: Hornby Bylaw 150, s. 3.6(11)

  • “Subsections 3.6(11) to 3.6(20) inclusive apply to home occupations conducted on lots of 0.1 hectare or larger and less than 2.0 hectares in area.”

    Read it: Hornby Bylaw 150, s. 3.6(10)

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

A lot between 0.1 and 0.4 hectares is in Tier 1, which allows four kinds of home occupation and no other uses, and also in Tier 2, which allows fifteen.

Tier 1 applies to lots of 0.1 hectare or larger and less than 0.4 hectares. Tier 2 applies to lots of 0.1 hectare or larger and less than 2.0 hectares. Both lists end and no other uses. Section 7.2(5) says that where two regulations conflict the more restrictive applies, which would make Tier 2 mean nothing on those lots. If Tier 2 was meant to start at 0.4 hectares the bylaw does not say so.

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

The bylaw says where it applies by pointing at Schedule C, and sets a 30 metre wetland setback by pointing at Schedule D. The bylaw has two schedules, A and B.

The enacting clause adopts Schedule A, the text, and Schedule B, the zoning map, and nothing else. Section 2.1(1) applies the bylaw to the area as shown on Schedule C. Section 3.3(3) keeps buildings 30.0 metres from wetlands shown on Schedule D. The community plan has Schedules D1 and D2, and other sections of this bylaw name them in full, but section 3.3(3) does not say the plan. An owner cannot find the wetlands the setback is measured from in this bylaw.

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

Plan policy 6.3.5.9 supports shared land ownership where supported by policy in Subsection 6.3.6. Section 6.3 ends at 6.3.5.

Section 6.3 Residential has five subsections: General, Small Lot Residential, Rural Residential, Forest and Housing. There is no 6.3.6. Bylaw 176, which adds housing policies to this section, does not correct it.

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

The fence section exempts a landscape screen from Section 3.7, which is Vacation Home Rental Uses.

Section 3.9(2) sits under the fence height limit in 3.9(1) and reads as an exemption from that limit. It names section 3.7 instead. If Bylaw 177 is adopted, 3.7 becomes Secondary Suites and the reference stays wrong.

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

The Mariculture zone bans every structure on the beach except as permitted in Subsection 8.26(2), which is the list of structures for a different zone.

Section 8.24(3) is a condition of use in the M3 zone. The structures the M3 zone permits are in 8.24(2): mooring buoys, markers and sacks holding molluscs. Subsection 8.26(2) belongs to the Marine Service (M5) zone and permits floats, docks, wharves and breakwaters, the things 8.24(3) goes on to prohibit.

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

The bylaw defines the agricultural land reserve as land reserved under the Agricultural Land Reserve Act, which the current Act calls a former Act.

Section 1 of the Agricultural Land Commission Act on BC Laws defines former Act as the Agricultural Land Reserve Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 10, or the Land Reserve Commission Act (https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/02036_01#section1). The same bylaw uses the current names elsewhere: the Agricultural Land Reserve Use Regulation in section 8.5 and the Water Sustainability Act in section 9.6.2.

Numbering and proofreading · in a bylaw in force

The contents leave out sections 3.7 and 6.8, a definition and a section stop in mid-sentence, and the riparian guidelines say this plan.

Section 3.7 Vacation Home Rental Uses and section 6.8 Split or Hooked Lots are in the body and not in the table of contents. The definition of hostel ends such as summer workers, displaced. Section 3.13(1) ends with a comma. Section 9.6.1 speaks of permit areas designated in this plan, words carried over from the community plan. The development permit areas are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.

What we checked and found sound

  • Read all 76 pages of Land Use Bylaw No. 150 from the library copy, and the parts of Official Community Plan Bylaw No. 149 that Bylaw 176 amends or that Bylaw 150 cites. Both library copies match the SHA-256 of what the Trust serves today.
  • Read Bylaws 176 and 177 in full in the 1 September 2026 agenda package (pages 146 to 152), the post-hearing staff report, the staffing business case, and the draft minutes of 1 September, 26 June, 1 May, 20 March, 3 March and 23 January 2026. The bylaw pages are clean text, not tracked changes.
  • All 52 cross-references in Bylaw 150 were read beside their targets with the auditor's --all listing. Two land on the wrong subject (3.9(2) and 8.24(3)) and are recorded. The rest are sound, including the 3.6 home occupation chain, the site-specific despite clauses in 8.1, 8.7, 8.8, 8.11, 8.18 and 8.21, and 9.6.2.
  • Every plan policy that Part 10 of Bylaw 150 cites (6.5.1.10, 5.1.4, 6.3.5.18, 6.3.5.19, 6.3.5.14, 6.4.2.5, 6.5.5.9) exists in the plan according to the auditor, which reports one missing target in the plan's 30 references (6.3.6, recorded).
  • Every target of Bylaw 176 exists in the plan as described: objectives (1) to (4) of 6.3.1 and 6.3.3, policies 6.3.1.3, 6.3.3.6, 6.3.3.9, 6.4.1.4, 6.5.2.5 a) and b), 6.5.5.7, objective (9) of 6.10 and guidelines 6.10.1 to 6.10.10.
  • Plan and bylaw agree on dwellings per lot in the Rural Residential and Agriculture designations (one under 4.0 hectares, two at 4.0 hectares or more).
  • Publication: the Trust's listings for Bylaw 150 and Bylaw 149 each serve the right document. The Bylaw 150 consolidation is dated 22 November 2021.
  • Not done: the plan was not read from beginning to end, the zoning map was not compared with the text, and the public hearing binder was not read.

Open questions

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

  • Bylaw 177 deletes vacation home rental use from the R1, R2, R4 and A1 zones. It leaves in place the Vacation Home Rental Use row of sign Table 4.6, row 4 of parking Table 5.4 and the prohibition in section 3.2(1)(d). These may be meant to stay for rentals under a permit. Worth a look, not shown to be an error.
  • Bylaw 177's new guideline (e) would allow rentals only between May 1 and September 30. Section 3.7(1)(b), which it deletes, allows year-round rental of one of two dwellings with the owner living on the lot, and Bylaw 176 deletes plan policy 6.5.5.7 that supported it. That is a change of policy, not an error, but owners who rely on 3.7(1)(b) should know.
  • Section 10.1 of Bylaw 150 and section 6.10 of the plan both say a temporary use permit can be issued for up to three years and may be renewed one time only. Bylaw 177 makes a permit the only lawful route for every vacation rental. What an owner does after one permit and one renewal is not addressed in either bylaw. We did not check the Local Government Act on this.
  • Section 10.1 of Bylaw 150 cites section 492 of the Local Government Act and plan section 6.10 cites section 493 for the same thing. Section 493 is the permit power on BC Laws. We did not read 492.
  • The R3A zone (section 8.3A) has no subdivision provision, where every other land zone has one. Section 8.3A(8) reads must not exceed 500 m with no unit of area. Not confirmed against the rendered page.
  • Plan article 6.5.3 has no policy 6.5.3.8 (it goes from 6.5.3.7 to 6.5.3.9). Bylaw 176 would delete the article.
  • The plan's enacting clause calls Schedule D2 the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Map and its contents page calls it the Environmentally Sensitive Aquifers Map. Bylaw 150 sections 3.6(41), 3.7(1)(f) and 3.8(3) depend on Schedule D2 for aquifer classes.
  • The definition of public park relies on the Park (Regional) Act and section 9.6.1 on the BC Fish Protection Act. BC Laws publishes chapter 97021 under the title Riparian Areas Protection Act. We did not confirm the history of either Act, so neither is recorded as a finding.